• Northwest Arkansas News, Monday, September 24, 2007 10:15 AM

The quality - or lack thereof -- of products made in China is the focus of a new ad campaign from a group that spends it time making Wal-Mart's life as miserable as possible. As the holidays approach, the spots ask if the toys on sale at the retail behemoth are safe for our kids to play with. "When huge retailers like Wal-Mart pressure Chinese suppliers to cut costs, they cut corners," it says. "Now we're paying the price," the commercial says, in part.

The ad is running in 32 markets in the South and Midwest, including Little Rock and Fort Smith, Arkansas -- Wal-Mart's home turf, says a spokesman for WakeUp-WalMart.com, which paid for the ad and is funded largely by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. But a Wal-Mart spokesman says that the company's "commitment to low prices is never at the cost of safety" and "product safety has always been and will continue to be a top priority at Wal-Mart."

Among the bevy of Chinese products yanked from store shelves just this year were children's bibs and toy jewelry that contained lead and pet treats that contained melamine, an industrial chemical. According to Terry Hemeyer, a crisis management and public-relations professor at several universities in Texas, the ad is unlikely to have much influence on Wal-Mart's customers, but the company must still address the criticism.

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