TINA.org says that based on the investigation, the ad watchdog filed a complaint with the FTC urging the agency to put an end to Walmart’s deceptive 'made in the USA' claims.
The organization says that Walmart “is no stranger to problematic American-made claims,” noting that in 2013, Walmart launched its American Jobs initiative. Despite promising a multibillion-dollar investment into products that support American manufacturing, just two years later, TINA.org said the company’s website was riddled with deceptive 'made in USA' claims. The watchdog reported its findings to the FTC.
TINA.org says the FTC closed its inquiry into Walmart after the retailer assured the agency it had addressed the issues and updated its procedures to make sure such misrepresentations did not occur in the future.
“Now Walmart is getting even bolder–trying to redefine the MUSA standard altogether,” the watchdog notes, in a press release. “The company’s “Made in America” ad campaign has been airing on national television, promoted on social media, and is featured on an ‘America At Work’ landing page on its website, suggesting that ‘made’ in America means ‘produced,’ ‘grown,’ ‘assembled’ or ‘sourced’ in the USA. This definition is much broader than the FTC’s, which calls for products marketed as made in the USA or made in America to be ‘all or virtually all’ made in the United States, meaning they contain no–or negligible–foreign content.”