IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2008

CONTACT: Meghan Scott
(202) 721-8014
(202) 538-0362

NEW AD: WAL-MART: GOOD FOR CHINA, BAD FOR AMERICA

WAKEUPWALMART.COM ASKS SHOPPERS NOT TO LET WAL-MART SEND THEIR REBATES TO CHINA

Washington, DC - WakeUpWalMart.com, America’s campaign to change Wal-Mart with 420,000 members nationally, today launches “Thank you,” a hard-hitting 30-second spot which reminds shoppers that by spending rebate checks at Wal-Mart, they are doing more to stimulate the Chinese economy than America’s. (Full script below.)

The ad comes just days after Wal-Mart announced it would cash rebate checks for free in an aggressive attempt to woo shoppers. Wal-Mart board member Jack Shewmaker confirms that Wal-Mart will make huge profits from our rebate checks, saying they will be a “real boost” to sales. Instead of helping America’s economy as they were intended, rebate checks spent at Wal-Mart will only help Wal-Mart’s profits, and China.

Wal-Mart is the number one importer of goods from China. More than 70 percent of goods on Wal-Mart’s shelves come from China. In the past year, more than 25 dangerous products from China have been pulled from Wal-Mart’s shelves. These product recalls - ranging from baby bibs to children’s toys to dog biscuits - most recently the April 18th recall of Wal-Mart’s Chinese-made key chains tainted with lead paint.

The ad, which begins running Thursday in Washington, DC and will go up across the country next week, can be viewed at http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/video/taxrebate.

A recent national poll conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates reveals that 60 percent of frequent Wal-Mart shoppers are uneasy buying Chinese goods. That unease is driven by concern over the safety of products made in China, a country where workers are exploited, human rights violated, and child labor still exists. Seventy-two percent of Wal-Mart shoppers said they are concerned with the safety of Chinese products.

When Americans learn that 70 percent of the products on Wal-Mart shelves come from China, nearly half say that it gives them a less favorable view of the retail giant. Fully 80 percent of respondents said that Wal-Mart “is wrong to buy seventy percent of its merchandise from China.”

TV AD SCRIPT

Dear President Bush,

Thanks for sending out those tax rebate checks. People are cashing them at our stores and buying lots of cheap imports from China. Around here, we call that economic stimulus, Wal-Mart style. And since China makes seventy per cent of our products, what’s good for Wal-Mart is great for China. Now let’s just hope no one finds any more lead paint in our toys! Thanks again,

Wal-Mart

Don’t let Wal-Mart send your rebate to China. Learn more at wakeupwalmart.com

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