Target sues rival Kmart over national ad campaign
Associated Press
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
Target Corp. sued in U.S. District Court in Minnesota alleging Kmart Corp. ran a false advertising campaign nationwide.
In a press release today, Minneapolis-based Target said a market research firm audited Kmart's "Dare to Compare" advertising campaign and found that
74 percent of Kmart's advertised price comparisons were wrong.
The Kmart campaign uses in-store signs to promote prices on different products and to compare Kmart's prices to those at other retailers, including Target.
Officials at Kmart weren't immediately available for comment.
Before suing, Target notified Kmart of errors in its comparisons to Target. When Kmart continued to promote false price comparisons, Target retained an
independent market research firm to document the scope of the errors.
Target's suit alleges that Kmart violated the federal Lanham Act, which governs truth in advertising and Minnesota's consumer protection laws.
Leo J. Shapiro and Associates conducted the audit of Kmart's price comparisons. The audit encompassed 98 Kmart stores in five markets: Atlanta, Detroit,
Los Angeles, Miami and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
According to Target, there were 553 errors on the 622 Kmart signs referencing Target.
The signs either had the Kmart price wrong, the wrong Target price, or Kmart made a comparison to a product that the competing Target store does not
sell.
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