(Elaina Natario Photo Illustration)
Globe Editorial
An ad agency would be almost delinquent in its duties if it didn’t proclaim that a client’s product is better than all rivals. Yet when AT&T sued rival
Some judgments are inherently subjective, and the threat that any and all comparisons could be subject to litigation would have discouraged some of the cleverest campaigns in advertising history. Car renter Avis’s declaration that “we try harder’’ than archrival Hertz surely wasn’t grounded in time-and-motion studies. The Pepsi Challenge did not meet strict standards of scientific inquiry. And had Apple’s legendary “1984’’ ad for the Macintosh run more than once,
Claims in ads should have some basis in fact, of course, and companies shouldn’t be allowed to suggest that their products prevent diseases or the various scourges of aging without firm scientific evidence. But if a company is merely incensed when competitors claim to offer better services, the answer is to take out ads of its own.
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