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Arizona Daily Star

By Levi J. Long, ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A Wal-Mart watchdog group filed complaints with the attorneys general of Arizona and Nebraska, saying that the retailer is using false statements in two television commercials airing in Tucson and Omaha, Neb.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. started a new ad campaign this week in both cities, airing two commercials that tout the company's health-care plans, charitable contributions and its positive impact on the American economy.

The commercials say the discount retailer has created thousands of new jobs for Americans and offer Wal-Mart workers health insurance for less than a dollar a day.

Those claims and others drew complaints from Wal-Mart Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based, union-funded group that often criticizes the discount retailer's employee pay and benefits.

The group filed formal complaints Tuesday with the consumer- protection divisions of the attorneys general, claiming the ads violate the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and the Nebraska Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

It was the first time Wal-Mart Watch filed a formal complaint against a Wal-Mart television campaign, said Nu Wexler a Wal-Mart Watch spokesman.

"The ads are false and misleading for consumers," Wexler said. "It's Wal-Mart's most public confirmation that their image problems are taking a toll."

Complaints in the letter include a reference to Wal-Mart's claims that its "low prices save the average family more than $2,300 a year."

Wal-Mart Watch said the figure comes from a study commissioned and paid for by the discount retailer by Global Insight, an economic forecasting company in Massachusetts.

Separate letters were also sent to television stations in the Tucson and Omaha markets, challenging the validity of the ad's claims and requesting that the stations pull the commercials.

Gus Whitcomb, director of media relations for Wal-Mart's Arizona, New Mexico and Texas stores, said Wal-Mart stands by the claims made in the ads.

"These paid critics don't want working families to hear the real facts," he said. "This union-funded stunt proves these ads are working."

Wal-Mart has said the ads are an effort to clear up inaccurate perceptions about the company's health-care plans and wages.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office can't confirm whether complaints have been received against a specific company, said Andrea M. Esquer, a spokeswoman for the office.

Typically, the agency looks into complaints for evidence of consumer fraud and works with the company involved to resolve the issue, she said.

* Contact reporter Levi J. Long at 573-4179 or llong@azstarnet.com.

(c) 2006 Arizona Daily Star. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.