Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 27, 1994 TAG: 9405270090
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to change the slogan, the National Advertising Review Board said.
The Bentonville, Ark., retailer acted after the review board, made up of 70 advertising professionals and public-interest members, recommended Wednesday that the slogan be changed to eliminate references to ``the low price.'' The board recommended that any modified slogan refrain from stating or implying that Wal-Mart's prices are ``always the lowest.''
The panel has no power to enforce its recommendations, but if advertisers refuse to make changes the panel can refer the case to the Federal Trade Commission. One such case is now pending before the FTC.
``They are unable always to have the low price,'' said Ron Graham, a Minnesota business executive and chairman of an ad hoc group of the advertising review board. ``It's very difficult in this mass-merchandise environment for any competitor to know that all of their prices are lower.''
Wal-Mart said in a statement that it disagreed with the panel's decision, but would voluntarily modify its advertising slogan over the next several months.
``We encourage our competitors to examine their own advertising claims and slogans with the same care and to act accordingly,'' Wal-Mart said in its statement.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jane Arend said the revised slogan, ``Always Low Prices. Always Wal-Mart,'' will be phased in during the next several months in advertising, inside stores, on shopping bags and snack-bar napkins and on delivery trucks.
Arend declined to say how much the revisions would cost the company, whose 2,043 stores posted $67.3 billion in sales for the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31.
Lawyers for the New York-based review board, which was established in 1971 so that advertisers could police themselves and keep government intervention to a minimum, said the Wal-Mart case is significant for the advertising and retailing industries.
``This wasn't just a casual campaign. This was their corporate identifier,'' said Steve Cole, the review board's general counsel.
``Maybe this will have a ripple effect. Retail advertising now is full of problems. There are an awful lot of claims out there that are exaggerated. Consumers are not believing retail advertising, which is a disaster for the advertising industry.''
The complaints about Wal-Mart's slogan were brought by three retail chains - Target Stores Inc., Meijer Inc. and Vision World Inc. - and the National Advertising Review Network, the board's ad hoc group.
``All we want to do is make it a fair playing field,'' said Carolyn Brookter, a spokeswoman for Target Stores. ``We think this [decision] should do that.''
The Associated Press contributed to this story..
by CNB