Wal-Mart Labels Some Foreign-Made Products as Made in the USA
June 30, 2015 by Paul AusickAmericans prefer to buy American-made products, according to Truth in Advertising, and are willing to pay a premium of as much as 60% for goods made in the USA. The group found that some product packaging identifies goods as “Made in China” but the website carries a badge claiming that the product is made in the USA.
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Truth in Advertising also found products where the website specifications misrepresent the products’ origins, and that some products purportedly made in the USA use only a percentage of USA-made components or that the product is only assembled, not made, in the USA.
For its part, Wal-Mart replied that it believes that “these errors are limited to a small percentage of items and we are confident in the overall integrity of the information on our site.” According to a report in the New York Post, a Wal-Mart spokesman said that labels claiming that a product is made in the USA as well as similar labeling such as “Women’s Economic Empowerment” and “Sustainability Leaders” will also be removed “within a week.”
Wal-Mart has also said that some products that were previously made in China have now moved manufacturing to the United States, and there is still some of the older made-in-China product remaining in inventory. In some cases, the retailer said it used information on product origins supplied by the manufacturer.
What makes the issue notable is Wal-Mart’s promise to buy an additional $250 billion in USA-made goods. Truth in Advertising cites Michelle Amazeen, assistant professor of advertising at New Jersey’s Rider University:
It’s incredibly disingenuous for Walmart to be promoting their initiative to stock $250 billion American-made products while at the same time they are in violation of FTC labeling standards for what qualifies as made in the USA.
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