Puffery in Advertising
Puffery: A controversial Type of Ad Claim
Brady Bowers
University of Oklahoma
Puffery is the legal term for ad claims that state opinions rather than facts and that are excused from legal control even when the advertiser disbelieves them. Advertisers goals and objectives consist of trying to persuade people into buying a product or service through various typed of methods. Companies may delivers certain messages about its products, compare them to similar items, list facts about them, or state vague claims about them, which cannot be proved or disproved. Making these vague claims is known as “puffery,” where the advertiser “puffs up” the product to seem more than it is. This can seem misleading or deceiving to consumers because puffery is not illegal and is a common and effective method used in advertising. I think there is nothing wrong about puffery because it is a necessary technique to enhance advertising, in which I encourage further use of it. Some claims that make up puffery may be false, but they are not lies because they cannot be disproved or proved. Fore example, a company may claim that their coffee is the best tasting coffee in the world but no one can prove that it is the best but at the same time can’t prove that it is not the best. However, if the advertiser states that the coffee contains ingredients that help to prevent cancer, then that is something that could be proved or disproved by research or science. Trying to persuade consumers that coffee helps prevent cancer would be considered a false claim, which is illegal unlike exaggerated opinions of puffery that are legal. Puffery can be characterized by exaggeration and hyperbole. “The best tasting coffee in the world” is beyond belief to where a reasonable person would not take the claim seriously or to be true. Advertisers use this exaggeration and hyperbole to allure people’s attention and make their messages more memorable to where they can retain and recall them. Seeing as
Brady Bowers
University of Oklahoma
Puffery is the legal term for ad claims that state opinions rather than facts and that are excused from legal control even when the advertiser disbelieves them. Advertisers goals and objectives consist of trying to persuade people into buying a product or service through various typed of methods. Companies may delivers certain messages about its products, compare them to similar items, list facts about them, or state vague claims about them, which cannot be proved or disproved. Making these vague claims is known as “puffery,” where the advertiser “puffs up” the product to seem more than it is. This can seem misleading or deceiving to consumers because puffery is not illegal and is a common and effective method used in advertising. I think there is nothing wrong about puffery because it is a necessary technique to enhance advertising, in which I encourage further use of it. Some claims that make up puffery may be false, but they are not lies because they cannot be disproved or proved. Fore example, a company may claim that their coffee is the best tasting coffee in the world but no one can prove that it is the best but at the same time can’t prove that it is not the best. However, if the advertiser states that the coffee contains ingredients that help to prevent cancer, then that is something that could be proved or disproved by research or science. Trying to persuade consumers that coffee helps prevent cancer would be considered a false claim, which is illegal unlike exaggerated opinions of puffery that are legal. Puffery can be characterized by exaggeration and hyperbole. “The best tasting coffee in the world” is beyond belief to where a reasonable person would not take the claim seriously or to be true. Advertisers use this exaggeration and hyperbole to allure people’s attention and make their messages more memorable to where they can retain and recall them. Seeing as
References: Fetscherin, Marc, and Mark Toncar. "Viewpoint: Visual Puffery in Advertising." Viewpoint: Visual Puffery in Advertising 51 (2009): n Preston, I. L. (1998). Puffery and other ‘loophole’ claims: How the law’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy condones fraudulent falsity in advertising Preston, I. L. (1996). The Great American blow-up: Puffery in advertising and selling (revised edition) Preston, I. L. (1989). The FTC’s identification of implications as constituting deceptive advertising "Puffery Laws." Find a Lawyer. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. 25 Mar. 2013.