Information AboutPuffery |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PUFFERY | |
| advertising | |
| contract law | |
| journalism terminology | |
| puff piece | |
| promotion and marketing communications | |
| propaganda | |
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For instance, a Diner Advertisement Promoting the “world’s best cup of coffee” would class as puffery. That claim would be almost impossible to substantiate, and no reasonable Consumer would take such exaggeration at face value. Puffery often uses the Superlative form of a word, like “best”, “most”, “greatest”, etc. However, a company making a superlative claim such as “cheapest” or “safest” usually has to substantiate such competitive claims. Merchants must exercise extreme caution when making statements about the quality, condition, or facts about their Product s or Service s. A slight variation in wording may result in an Express Warranty . The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defined puffery as a “term frequently used to denote the exaggerations reasonably to be expected of a seller as to the degree of quality of his product, the truth or falsity of which cannot be precisely determined.” ''Better Living, Inc.'' et al., 54 F.T.C. 648 (1957), aff’d, 259 F.2d 271 (3rd Cir. 1958). The FTC stated in 1984 that puffery does not warrant enforcement action by the Commission. In its FTC Policy Statement on Deception, the Commission stated: "The Commission generally will not pursue cases involving obviously exaggerated or puffing representations, i.e., those that the ordinary consumers do not take seriously." The advertising world sometimes refers to puffery with the Idiom ''gilding the lily''.1 PUFF PIECE |
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