Wal-Mart Critics Launch National Ad Campaign

Wed Apr 20, 2005 01:01 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - An organization opposed to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) took out a full-page newspaper advertisement on Wednesday that accuses the world’s biggest retailer of costing U.S. taxpayers some $1.6 billion a year.

The ad, which appeared in The New York Times, says Wal-Mart’s low pay and benefits forced tens of thousands of employees to seek government aid in the form of Medicaid, food stamps and housing assistance.

The group, which calls itself the Center for Community and Corporate Ethics and lists union leaders, environmentalists and academics among its directors, aims to “fight Wal-Mart on the streets, in the media and in the customer’s mind,” according to its Web site.

The organization asked people to sign up at http://www.walmartwatch.com—which it called a “war room”—to help fight Wal-Mart and said it would mail sample legislation to elected officials showing them “how they can pass laws to put the brakes on Wal-Mart.”

“Wal-Mart may not realize it yet, but this fight will be different,” the advertisement reads.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman questioned the $1.6 billion figure cited in the ad, and said that such statistics often come from surveys commissioned by labor groups that oppose Wal-Mart.

“You have to ask, just how credible are these numbers,” Mona Williams said.

“Keep in mind that this effort is led by a union-sponsored, tax-exempt organization with an agenda—not a public interest think tank,” she added. “It’s just one more example of labor unions playing fast and loose with the facts in an attempt to discredit Wal-Mart.”

A spokesman for the group that ran the advertisement did not immediately return a call seeking comment.  The group lists Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, among its directors. Stern could not immediately be reached. Wal-Mart has faced massive opposition from some human rights groups, labor activists and others who contend that the retailer drives competitors out of business and pays its 1.6 million workers poorly.

But Wal-Mart has repeatedly argued that it improves the standard of living by offering low prices, and points to huge numbers of applicants as evidence that it provides good jobs.

Wednesday’s advertisement comes three months after Wal-Mart took out its own ad in newspapers across the country, touting the jobs it plans to create this year, its employee benefit packages and the diversity of its work force.

Wal-Mart’s stock, which hit a 52-week low on Tuesday, dipped 5 cents to $47.55 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading.