Kmart's BlueLight Always Launch Forces Target to Withdraw Its Claims
Company encourages consumers to continue to dare to compare prices
Kmart Corporation (NYSE: KM) today announced that Target's claim this morning that Kmart "was forced to surrender" is absolutely untrue. In a short period of time, Kmart found that the study commissioned by Target was seriously flawed, as demonstrated by numerous errors in both methodology and execution. Realizing the weakness of its claim against Kmart, Target withdrew its motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against Kmart.
"Kmart is pleased and not surprised that Target withdrew its request for a TRO to restrain Kmart's advertising," said Janet Kelley, Kmart's Senior Vice President and General Counsel. "It is unfortunate when a competitor has to resort to frivolous litigation in an apparent attempt to confuse consumers about their competitive pricing position."
Kelley stated, "Kmart is encouraged by its progress which has pushed Target to use deceptive communications and legal maneuvering to deflect its lack of competitiveness in the marketplace," said Kelley. "Kmart's legal brief, which resulted in Target dropping its motion in a matter of hours, clearly demonstrates the flaws in their assertions."
As outlined in the Kmart legal brief, a number of Target claims were false. For example, a California store cited in the survey had in fact never used Target in its Dare to Compare pricing comparisons. The store manager stated that his store "had never compared products to Target" and the photographs included in Target's motion, "are not in fact from the store I manage."
"The strong public relations campaign launched in association with the lawsuit, in our opinion, clearly demonstrates that Target is much less concerned with protecting the consumer from alleged false advertising than they are about defending their competitive retail position," said Kelley. "It is unfortunate that Target chose to compete in the courts rather than in the stores."
Kmart encourages all customers to judge for themselves the incredible price advantage with the company's new BlueLight Always program, which has lowered prices on over 30,000 items.
SOURCE: Kmart Corporation
Contact: Jack Ferry, Director of Financial and Corporate Communications
of Kmart Corporation, +1-248-463-1021
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