Minneapolis – Locally based Target Corp. recently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota charging Troy, Mich.-based Kmart Corp. with violating the federal Lanham Act, which governs truth in advertising and Minnesota's consumer protection laws.
Leo J. Shapiro and Associates was retained by Target to collect data regarding the accuracy of Kmart's “Dare to Compare” campaign. The firm found that 74% of Kmart's advertised price comparisons were wrong.
The audit covered 98 Kmart stores in five markets: Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami and Minneapolis-St. Paul. There were 553 errors on the 622 Kmart signs referencing Target.
In a statement responding to Target's charges, Kmart said the campaign was aimed at giving Kmart shoppers valuable competitive pricing information.