Comparative Advertising
Better Business Bureau Says More Companies Mocking Each Other in Ads
Oct 3, 2008
The National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureaus (BBB) confirms that more companies are using ads to mock their rivals, but that increase is even more evident on television every night:
- Alltel, the cell phone company, runs a series of television commercials portraying its four major competitors as hapless simpletons
- In one ad, Campbell Soup labeled a can of Progresso: "Made with MSG."
- A Cox Communications commercial portrays an attractive Cox representative bumping an outwitted AT&T pitchman off the screen.
- A Nasdaq ad said maybe the New York Stock Exchange should be called the "Not-So-Big Board"
- Apple Computer ad series portrays Microsoft as helpless
Also, a Burger King billboard showed a McDonald’s Big Mac box being too small to hold a Burger King Whopper sandwich.
Most Ads Funny, Not Mean
Many company executives and their agencies have apparently decided that if attack ads work in political campaigns, they can also work in the marketplace, even though numerous surveys have indicated that Americans frown on such ads. However, nose-to-nose company advertising may be viewed differently because:
- The ads are likely to be considered funny, not mean as many political ads are;
- Consumer advertising is not considered as important as political advertising.
- Consumer advertising is not as personal as political advertising.
The targets of the marketplace advertising, however, sometimes think the ads are not funny and that they are important. They report them to the BBB’s National Advertising Division, hoping the NAD calls for a halt to the campaigns.
BBB Can Only Make Recommendations
Suzanne Vranica reported in the Wall Street Journal that NAD and its National Advertising Review Council (NARC) received only six complaints in August 2007, but received 15 in August 2008. NARC can only make a recommendation. It cannot stop the advertising.
Also, by the time the complaints are filed and the NARC goes through its grievance process, the ads may have already run their scheduled course and achieved their purpose. The NARC action may actually bring additional publicity to the campaign.
As Vranica reported, direct comparison ads in the marketplace go back at least to the 1970s and may be cyclical in nature, popping up most frequently during tough economic times.
Wendy's Where’s the Beef?
Many consumers may remember:
- Pepsi’s taste-test ads that claimed its beverage was better than Coca-Cola
- Wendy’s "where’s the beef" commercials.
- The bitter advertising battles between Miller and Anheuser-Busch beers
Television networks began running "comparative" commercials after the Federal Trade Commission in 1979 publicly encouraged it as a means of stimulating competition. In its 1979 statement the commission said its "policy in the area of comparative advertising encourages the naming of, or reference to competitors, but requires clarity, and, if necessary, disclosure to avoid deception of the consumer.
"Additionally, the use of truthful comparative advertising should not be restrained by broadcasters or self-regulation entities," the commission stated.
References
National Advertising Review Council.org
Federal Trade Commission
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