LinerWorld

Few ad claims make a bigger splash than “Made in the USA.” But while consumers have shown a willingness to pay more for products marketed as Made in the USA, an increasing number of companies have come under fire for making misleading U.S.-origin claims.

The latest in this group is LinerWorld, a retailer of swimming pool products based in Illinois that makes some of its products here but makes others abroad, as the company explained to the FTC in response to an inquiry into its Made in the USA marketing.

Said the FTC to the firm (emphasis added):

As discussed, unqualified “Made in USA” claims on company marketing materials likely suggest to customers that all the products advertised in those materials are “all or virtually all” made in the United States [per the FTC’s legal definition for unqualified Made in the USA claims].

In order to close out the agency’s inquiry, LinerWorld indicated that it had, among other things, removed claims that seemed to imply that all of its products are made in the U.S. and deleted “Made in USA” from the keywords it uses for ads in Google search engine results.

TINA.org found evidence of these changes on the company’s homepage, where, in September, LinerWorld claimed to offer “Made in the USA Craftsmanship.” Now, the company touts “Top of the Line, High End Craftsmanship.”

Find more of our coverage on Made in the USA claims, including our investigations into both Walmart and Target’s deceptive Made in America marketing, here.