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Puffing in Advertising

ôPuffingö or ôpufferyö is defined as ôan exaggerated advertising, bluster and boasting upon which no reasonable buyer would rely and is not actionableö (Horwitz). It describes what can be referred to as ôsales jargonöùclaims used by merchants to convince a prospective buyer to buy their products by ôpuffing upö their apparent value (ôPufferyö).

Of course, some would argue that most advertising consists of puffing, and to some extent this is true. However, it is important to make the distinction that puffing is so exaggerated that no one takes it seriously; an actual misstatement of fact that people do find believable is not puffingùit is fraud. Puffing makes outlandish claims that no one takes seriously, such as ôthe best pipe tobacco in the world.ö Since no one can prove this claim, it is considered puffing. However, if the ad stated that ôFour out of five Americans watch this show on Monday nights,ö that is a claim that could be either substantiated or disproved by the Neilsen ratings (ôInside TV Ratingsö); if the ratings failed to substantiate the claim, the advertiser would lose the case in court.

When advertisers want to engage in aggressive marketing campaigns, they may be willing to make what are arguably false statements of fact, in the hope that consumers either would not know better or would not care to find out. However, should either a consumer or a competitor happen to challenge the statement by bringing suit, the advertiser would be forced to either prove that the claim is true or defend it as puffery.

Puffery is generally regarded as innocuous, since consumers do not regard it as true and do not rely on it for making purchase choices:

"Puffery" consists of promotional claims that no one out of diapers takes literally. Your two-year old might believe that polar bears enjoy sipping Coca-Cola. But you know better. Because two-year-olds make no spending decisions, advertisers have always...

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Puffing in Advertising. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:55, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712431.html