PUFFERY, DECEPTION & TRUTH TELLINGPUFFERY, DECEPTION & TRUTH TELLING

Presented by,Presented by,

Vishwanath & KavithaVishwanath & Kavitha

23rd March `09

What is puffery ?

Puffery is a term used in the advertising industry

to describe the hype and exaggeration that may

be present in advertising meant to grab

consumers' attention.

Puffery refers to an advertising claim that is not

false - because the product does possess that

quality to a certain extent - but it is an

exaggerated claim. It is a subjective claim that

cannot be proved right or wrong.

23rd March `09

What is puffery ?

Puffery refers to the exaggerated claim of a

product's superiority or the use of subjective or

vague statements that may not be literally true.

Puffery consists of promotional claims that no

one out of diapers takes literally.

Thus, puffery is generally not considered

deceptive advertising.

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More…

Courts around the world have traditionally been

generous towards advertisers. They’ve allowed

puffing or ‘seller's talk’ as it is also known.

``Puffery is used because it works, legal because

it doesn't.”– Ivan Preston (expert on truth in Ivan Preston (expert on truth in

advertising).advertising).

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What is Deceptive advertising ?

There is a thin line between puffery and

deceptive advertising.

Deceptive advertising occurs when an

advertisement is introduced into the perceptual

process of the audience and the outcome of the

perceptual process either differs from the reality

of the situation or affects the buying behaviour

of the consumer detrimentally.

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What Is Deceptive advertising ?

Deception is involved when due to advertising:

(a) a consumer perceives a claim (being explicitly

or implicitly made by the advertiser)

differently from what it actually is;

(b) then buys the product under the influence of

a mistaken impression and then suffers a loss

as a consequence. Thus, either the claim

itself could be false or at least the impression

being created is false.

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Example of Deceptive ads

In an advertisement for Palmolive shaving cream,

the cream lather was shown to be effective enough

to shave sand grains off sand paper implying that if

the cream could shave sand paper, it could tackle

the toughest beard. But what was not disclosed was

the fact that the sand paper was soaked in water for

24 hours before shooting of the Ad. Would you

immerse your face in water for 24 hours before

shaving? Lets watch a video here

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Examples of puffery

Unlike what has been shown in the ad, bears don’t drink Coke.

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Taking a closer look…

MYTH: A claim can be substantiated if it has

several studies supporting it.

TRUTH: A claim is only substantiated if the

studies were scientifically controlled and

validated by experts in the field and the party

conducting the study had no incentive to obtain

particular results. A claim may be substantiated

if there is an absence of relevant studies

contradicting the results.

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More…

MYTH: If your product has some benefit, the

advertisement will not be challenged.

TRUTH: Even real product claims must be

substantiated with scientific evidence.

MYTH: Testimonials are substantiation.

TRUTH: They are not - even if the testimonials are

backed up with affidavits from individuals stating

that the product performed as promised. Anecdotal

evidence is not considered.

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More…

MYTH: If endorsers actually use and like the

product, it is safe to use their endorsements.

TRUTH: Even if the endorser is making truthful

statements the claim must consider whether the

endorser's experiences are typical. If the results

are not substantiated the claim needs to disclose

what results may be generally expected and that

there is no typical.

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More…

MYTH: If a deceptive claim is followed with a

disclosure, liability is removed.

TRUTH: If a claim cannot be substantiated do

not make it. The claim may have to be narrowed

down to what can be substantiated. Disclosures

that contradict a deceptive claim do not remove

liabilities.

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Truth telling

The term refers to “not lying” and “not misleading”

anyone.

One can mislead even without lying, by just

withholding relevant information.

An example of that would be ads of OTC medicines

that never talk of its side effects – the ad for Crocin, a

popular analgesic, doesn't talk of the liver damage that

paracetamol can cause when used regularly. It only

talks about the relief from pain/fever etc.

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More…

The question of truth telling also arises when

they make models wear doctors’ coats and

vouch for the quality of a product.

This kind of portrayal amounts to lying. So it

must be wrong?

The counter argument in favor of puffery would

appeal to the “reasonability” of the human mind,

making this an endless discussion.

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regulations

In the U.S – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act

lays down guidelines for responsible advertising.

There are regulations against deception, under

which deceptive ads maybe sued.

In U.K – the Consumer Protection from Unfair

Trading Regulation and the Business Protection

from Misleading Marketing Regulation were framed

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More…

in consonance with a directive issued by the

European union.

In India – there was no codified law regulating ads

until recently , but Rule 7(4) of the Cable

television network rules, 1994, stated that the

goods and services advertised shall not suffer

from any defect as mentioned in the consumer

protection act 1986

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More

36(A) – of the monopolies and restrictive trade

practices act, 1969, gives an exhaustive

definition of the term unfair trade practice which

includes false representation of products.

More recently, a body called ASCI – Advertising

Standards Council of India has been set up to

regulate ad content and deal with cases of

puffery and deception.

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Questions please...