A Wal-Mart store sign as seen in Niles, Illinois November 24, 2006. A group that opposes Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s business practices plans to target what it calls the retailer's core conservative Republican customers with a new television advertising campaign, saying the company is "not American anymore." REUTERS/John Gress

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas (Reuters) - A group that opposes Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s business practices plans to target what it calls the retailer’s core conservative Republican customers with a new television advertising campaign, saying the company is “not American anymore.”

WakeUpWalMart.com is launching the $1 million television campaign in the the South, Southeast and Midwest United States to try to take advantage of what it says its research shows is a “values conflict” among consumers who like low prices but do not like to see more manufacturing jobs moving overseas.

“People like low prices, but they don’t like the values” they are seeing at Wal-Mart, said Chris Kofinis, a spokesman for the union-backed group that has been highly critical of the world’s largest retailer.

The first television ad, which will begin running in June, paints Wal-Mart as having moved away from founder Sam Walton’s vision of buying American, saying the retailer instead “drives American companies to shut down plants and move manufacturing jobs to China.”

The U.S. trade deficit with China hit a record $233 billion last year, a source of frustration among many U.S. lawmakers. A three-day Washington visit by a top-level Chinese delegation last week ended with little progress evident on the thorniest points in a troubled trans-Pacific trade relationship.

Wal-Mart directly sources about $9 billion in goods from China, a spokeswoman for the retailer said. In the past, the company has said another $9 billion reach Wal-Mart stores through suppliers who also buy goods manufactured in China, but the spokeswoman declined comment on that second figure on Thursday.

A spokesman said Wal-Mart’s commitment to buying from American suppliers -- cited in a 1985 memo from Walton distributed by WakeUpwalMart.com to reporters attending the company’s annual meeting and media day -- has not changed.

“However, today we’re a global company and it is necessary to source globally to ensure that we meet the needs and wants of our customers,” said Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar.