March 29, 2005

Twenty-One Members of Congress Release Letter Calling on ABC to End Wal-Mart

Washington, DC — Twenty-one Members of Congress released a joint letter today calling on ABC News to drop Wal-Mart as a sponsor of Good Morning America’s “Only in America” series. The letter to David Westin, President of ABC News, states that in the “name of honesty and accuracy in the media, we ask that ABC News remove Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.” as a sponsor.

“Wal-Mart values are not American values. Crummy healthcare, an assault on small businesses, and poor wages is not what we value in America,” said Representative Anthony Weiner, who signed the letter.

The letter highlights Wal-Mart’s consistent attempts to use misleading advertising and slogans to confuse consumers and the American public about their real record. In fact, Wal-Mart’s attempt to wrap itself in the American flag is both hypocritical and misleading. For example, “”80 percent of the six thousand factories in Wal-Mart’s worldwide database of suppliers are in China.”” Amazingly, if Wal-Mart were a country it would be China’s seventh-largest export market, ahead of Germany and Great Britain. According to Ted Fishman, author of China, Inc.,  “”Wal-Mart’s growth as an economic force is inseparable from China’s rise as a manufacturing giant … no company has been a bigger catalyst in pushing American…manufactures to China.””

“It is a sad day when ABC News would allow itself to be used by Wal-Mart to sell a corporate image based on lies and myths,” said Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. “One only has to look at the real Wal-Mart record to realize the severe damage this company has done to American families and communities.”

Joe Hansen, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, was delighted to see so many Members of Congress join in this growing movement to pressure ABC News to drop Wal-Mart as a sponsor.
“I join with other Americans who think it is time for Wal-Mart to stop relying on slogans and start doing what is right for our families and America,” said Hansen.

The joint Congressional letter is the latest step in a growing grassroots movement. Already, over 13,000 concerned citizens have signed the UFCW petition that asks David Westin, President of ABC News, to drop Wal-Mart as a sponsor. The petition can be found at www.ufcw.org.

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