Walmart Continues Investing in American Jobs

Several U.S. manufacturers have jumped on board Walmart's summertime marketing campaign spotlighting its pledge to buy more than $250 billion worth of American-made products — and PepsiCo has developed its own custom supporting program.Five years after the retailer first made its "Investing in American Jobs" commitment and three years after Procter & Gamble won an Effie award for its "Made with American Jobs" tie-in program, PepsiCo is taking up the torch to inform shoppers that it also operates manufacturing plants in the U.S.At stores in those regions, the manufacturer is deploying state-specific pallet and endcap signage touting the number of residents it employs. Other general versions of the signs plug PepsiCo's more than 110,000 total U.S. employees.Walmart, meanwhile, is using its own in-store signage package to highlight more products within the cause marketing halo effect of its core pledge. Items from brands such as Winchester Repeating Arms' flagship and Kraft Heinz Co.'s Country Time are among those stocked on pallet displays outfitted with themed headers.Several manufacturers also are earning secondary shelf space with account-specific shelf trays depicting Walmart's campaign logo and proclaiming, "We proudly support American Jobs." Among them:Mars Inc.'s Snickers and M&M's earn an upfront endcap and space in the seasonal aisle.Performance Health's BioFreeze earns a dedicated endcap in the health and beauty department.Spectrum Brands' Rayovac earns an upfront endcap.The activity amped up around the patriotic Memorial Day holiday, with multiple circular features supporting.On walmart.com, a dedicated home page carousel ad highlighted the retailer's support of U.S. workers, linking to an "American Jobs" e-commerce shop stocking product from brands such as PepsiCo/Frito-Lay's Cheetos, private label Great Value and the flagships of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Coleman Co.The shop's leaderboard ad linked to an "America at Work" corporate web page created last year that offers articles and videos detailing American workers at manufacturers such as Giti Tire, California Innovations (which makes Walmart's exclusive Ozark Trail coolers) and M Factory. (See video below.)P&G got the spotlight in a recent circular feature (see Related Update below), and ran a stock up display ad on Walmart's home page employing the retailer's campaign logo that linked to an e-commerce shop offering the manufacturer's brands. Co-op display ads running on websites such as cnnmoney.com also support.Meanwhile, ad watchdog truthinadvertising.org has reported violations of Made in USA standards by Walmart and P&G's Gillette to the Federal Trade Commission, which hasn't elected to take any corrective action. Walmart has acknowledged mistakes but downplayed their importance while highlighting its annual open call for companies to present their U.S.-made products. This year's event on June 13 had buyers meeting with more than 450 businesses to hear pitches for a wide range of products, including toys, apparel, natural health and beauty aids, and food, including many organic offerings, the retailer said in a media release.

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