While there is no official review process required for labeling a product as “Made in the U.S.A.,” a company can get into legal trouble for misusing that label, as doing so may constitute false advertising. A new report from an advertising watchdog group claims that Walmart’s website has more than 100 examples of products incorrectly marketed as made in America. 
 
 According to a letter [PDF] recently sent by the group Truth In Advertising to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, “Walmart’s website is mired in USA labeling errors.” 
 
 Among the items singled out in the letter are Walmart’s Equate store-brand makeup sponges in the image at the top of this story. TINA says these were given the Made in the U.S.A. label on Walmart.com even though the product’s own packaging clearly states that they were “Made in China.” 
 
 Another Equate-brand product called out by TINA are these teeth-whitening strips that the company simultaneously lists as made in America while declaring in the product details that they are imported form outside the country: 
 
 
 
 In response to the TINA letter, Walmart told the group that manufacturing for both of these products was recently moved to the U.S. but that some stores may still contain versions made overseas and not all the information on the website is correct. Regardless, both items no longer carry the patriotic marketing message. 
 
 It wasn’t just store-brand items that got the false “Made in U.S.A.” labels, according to the report. TINA’s letter gives the example of an Almay eyeliner that states the product is made and assembled here in the U.S., even though the packaging declares that it is “Made in Germany.” Walmart says that the country of origin information comes from the supplier. 
 
 “False made in USA labeling on Walmart’s website has misled consumers looking to purchase American-made products,’’ said TINA.org Executive Director Bonnie Patten. “The largest retailer in the world should have made sure its American-made claims were accurate before affixing made in USA labels on the products. Until Walmart cleans up this mess, consumers cannot rely on Walmart with regard to where a product is really made when shopping on the site.” 
 
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 UPDATE: When reached for comment, a rep for Walmart provided the following statement to Consumerist — 
 
 “We are continually working to improve our website listings and information. We are undertaking a more extensive quality assurance review to help eliminate these coding errors. Based on our initial internal review, we believe these errors are limited to a small percentage of items and we are confident in the overall integrity of the information on our website.” 
 
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 A more detailed report [PDF] commissioned by TINA looked at the actual “Made in the U.S.A.” labeling on Walmart.com and found a number of issues. 
 
 This report noted that Walmart does little to differentiate its “Made in the U.S.A.” label from its “Assembled in the U.S.A.” label, even though the two labels have very different standards in the eyes of the Federal Trade Commission. 
 
 “The legibility of the text at the top of the label, which can be either ‘Made in the’ or ‘Assembled in the’, is marginal even for people with excellent or corrected vision, due both to the text’s small size and the low contrast of light blue text on a white background,” writes the report’s author, Dr. Jeff Johnson, who notes that the problem is exacerbated for farsighted people or those looking at the site on a small-format screen. “If such people have not seen it earlier in larger format (e.g., on a product page), they would be unable to determine what it says. Even consumers who have seen that text already in larger format would, in search results, have trouble distinguishing ‘Made in the USA’ from ‘Assembled in the USA’.” ||||| Perhaps Walmart’s products aren’t as patriotic as they claim 
 
 According to a report recently released by the advertising watchdog group, Truth in Advertising, over 100 products labeled on Walmart’s website as “Made in the USA” are, in fact, imported from other countries. 
 
 The report found that both Walmart’s store brand products, such as Equate makeup sponges and tooth whitening strips, as well as other brands, such as Almay eyeliner, were falsely labeled as made in the United States. 
 
 
 
 Some products clearly displayed contrary information, such as a red, white, and blue “made in the USA” logo on the front, with the words “Made in China” displayed on the back. Other products were stamped with the patriotic logo while the product specifications listed the item as imported. 
 
 Walmart had an excuse, but the labels are magically gone 
 
 While there is no official certification process for labeling a product “made in the USA,” a company can still be sued for false advertising if they misuse the label. However, rather than taking legal action, Truth in Advertising simply sent a letter to Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon, causing the retail chain some embarrassment, but sparing them the court room drama. 
 
 Walmart responded by saying that some manufacturing of its store brands had recently moved to the United States, but the website hadn’t been update yet. However, many Made in USA labels were removed from the website after Truth in Advertising’s letter went public. As for other brands, Walmart claims that the country of origin information comes from the supplier. 
 
 Great reminder to stay honest 
 
 Unimpressed by these excuses, executive direction of Truth in Advertising, Bonnie Patten, says that the “largest retailer in the world should have made sure its American-made claims were accurate before affixing made in USA labels on the products. Until Walmart cleans up this mess, consumers cannot rely on Walmart with regard to where a product is really made when shopping on the site.” 
 
 The report also argues that the website’s labels for “Made in USA” and “Assembled in USA,” with their tiny fonts and identical color schemes, are too similar to distinguish on the website, even though the Federal Trade Commission makes a clear differentiation between these two labels. 
 
 All of this is an important reminder for businesses to stay honest in advertising. All it takes is a watchdog with an internet connection and keen eye to uncover false claims. ||||| Walmart has apologized for an offensive slur used by a third-party seller in a product listing on its website. 
 
 The cap listed the color as "n----- brown." It was highlighted in a series of tweets late Sunday. 
 
 "Umm, @walmart, we need to have a chat..." Travon Free, a writer for "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," tweeted Sunday night. 
 
 Walmart (WMT) issued a statement Monday saying it too is upset by the use of the word on its site. Walmart declined to identify the vendor that was selling it. 
 
 "We are very sorry and appalled that this third party seller listed their item with this description on our online marketplace," said Danit Marquardt, director of corporate communications for Walmart. "It is a clear violation of our policy, and has been removed, and we are investigating the seller to determine how this could have happened." He said the third party seller has been completely removed from Walmart's site as it investigates further. 
 
 Related: Walmart pulls 'Bulletproof' Black Lives Matter items after police object 
 
 Walmart initially removed the offensive word from the title of the product, but it remained in the item's details, where the color is listed. 
 
 By Monday morning the term had also been removed from the details portion of the listing, and the item itself was no longer available. Only the black version of the cap appeared to be listed. 
 
 The cap was described as manufactured by Jagazi Naturals in the U.K., but that company's owner said the product is a counterfeit version of hers and was sold by an unauthorized seller. 
 
 "We're very sorry for all the distress this has caused. We are feeling the pain here as well," said Chizo Onuh of Jagazi Naturals. "It just doesn't make any sense. No one will buy the product when you put that offensive name on it."
– An advertising watchdog group warns you to beware of patriotic "Made in the USA" labels on some Walmart products, saying the company uses them far too liberally. The group Truth In Advertising sent Walmart CEO Doug McMillon a letter last week saying that "Walmart's website is mired in USA labeling errors," and ran down a few examples, per the Consumerist: The company's store brand Equate Beauty Wedge Applicator Sponges, formerly labeled "Made in the USA" on the website, "are made in China according to the product packaging," the letter says. Some "USA" labels conflict with the product information on the same Web page, according to the letter—including Equate 7 Day Dental Whitening System Advanced Whitening Wraps (imported) and Almay Intense I-color Liquid Eye Liner (made in Germany). Some USA labels ignore the fact that the product is only partly made, or is assembled rather than made, in the US, the letter adds. "False made in USA labeling on Walmart’s website has misled consumers looking to purchase American-made products," says TINA.org Executive Director Bonnie Patten. In response, Walmart says the two Equate products only recently located in the US—yet the "Made in the USA" label on them is now gone, the Consumerist notes. Walmart adds that it's undertaking "a more extensive quality assurance review" of its website. While there's no official standard for "Made in the USA" labeling, companies can get sued over it for false advertising, AGBeat reports. Click to see a more extensive TINA review of Walmart's "USA" labeling.