“Puffery” is an exaggerated or extravagant statement made to attract buyers to a particular product or service. It is often used in conjunction with advertising and sales recommendations. The Federal Trade Commission defines puffery as a term that refers to exaggerations of a product`s quality. At the state level, individual states can set rules and take steps to enforce them, usually through the Attorney General`s Office. On the one hand, puffs help grab the audience`s attention and can help shape a brand image. What is Puffery? Learn how to avoid buffering to protect yourself from legal issues and costly damage to your brand reputation. In order to prove false advertising, it must be proven that the statement or representation was misleading. False advertising is motivated by the desire to deceive or mislead the public. On the other hand, the puff is usually more a matter of opinion than a factual presentation.

Puffery`s goal is simply to attract more consumers, rather than deliberately deceive. While puffs are considered legal and can sometimes be powerful, they can also cause your brand to disappear. Although puffs are considered legal advertising, they become illegal if they cross the line of false advertising. False advertising is very serious and legal action can be taken against the offending company. False advertising consists of statements of fact that are misleading and factually incorrect. For example, to say that a knife is so sharp that it can cut through the stone would be a false advertisement if it can be shown that the knife is not really sharp. This statement would be considered misleading advertising because it is misleading and factually inaccurate and would reasonably be relied upon by a consumer when making a purchase decision. It is assumed that most consumers would recognize Puffery as an opinion that cannot be verified. Most reasonable people wouldn`t take Puffery literally. The difference between inflated and actual representations is the degree of specificity of the claim. Puffery contains general and general demands, as in the motto “The best chicken in the West”. If a product or service is advertised through false advertising, several regulatory bodies may respond to such claims.

The Better Business Bureau can handle complaints related to misleading advertising by businesses and businesses. The Federal Trade Commission deals with allegations of false advertising at the federal level. The FTC does not respond to individual claims, but may view claims as part of a broader pattern of false advertising. Given the examples above, the most obvious reasons why Puffery is bad for your brand are: If you feel you are unfairly affected by a statement, you should contact a lawyer. An experienced business lawyer can represent in court and advise you on whether the representation is just a stamp or a serious misrepresentation. If you are a business or seller of products, you can also contact one or more fraud lawyers who specialize in consumer protection. Your lawyer may review your statements and representations to determine if they fall within the limits of the law. In today`s world, puffery is a statement that uses exaggeration and/or exaggeration to promote a product or service. As mentioned earlier, puffing is allowed to a limited extent by most trade laws. On the other hand, false advertising is a crime and may be punishable under civil and criminal law.

However, in today`s world, there is a misconception that effective marketing requires buffering – or exaggerated claims at an extreme level to promote your brand. Other inflated ads sometimes make completely unbelievable claims, like claiming their beer is as cold as the Rockies. So, although you received an initial sale from a consumer with puff complaints, you may have damaged a long-term relationship with that customer. The Lanham Act of 1946 stated that false advertising was illegal, as was trademark counterfeiting. While many companies have complied with this law and continue to comply, violations and lawsuits continue to occur today. The federal and state governments regulate advertising laws. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the primary group that monitors and enforces laws relating to illegal advertising. So is the FTC: Puffery is all around you, whether you know it or not. Here are some common examples of puff advertising you may have heard: The reason puff is not prohibited is that most courts consider the puff to be so intangible and unreliable that it cannot form the basis of liability. However, if the statement contains some misrepresentation or outright falsehood, the consumer can hold the seller liable for violations such as false advertising or fraudulent representation. There are many cases of inflated advertising, as such statements are used in almost all types of advertising. According to Manatt, an example occurred in 2017 involving Ford Motor Company and a dissatisfied customer who had a defect in the door handles of his vehicle.

The company`s slogan “Built Ford Tough” was considered by the U.S. District Court to be one of the examples of stamps in advertising, as the phrase suggested high quality and reliability to customers when this was not always the case. Puffery is not only a monetary risk, but also a reputational risk, which can sometimes be even more damaging. According to the National Law Review, the biggest difference when comparing puffed and false advertising is that false advertising is subjective, while false advertising consists of objective statements. Objective statements are statements that can be verified. Although puffing is not new to the world, the definition of the term has changed over the centuries. From a personal standpoint, your brand reputation could seriously suffer from Puffery. We know that there is a fine line between puffy advertising and misleading advertising. We also know that using Puffery has financial and reputational implications.

If you compare Puffery to fake advertising, you will find that the difference between legal advertising and allegations of illegal marketing exists. Puffery is a legal way to promote a product or service through exaggerations or oversized statements that cannot be objectively verified. Misleading advertising, on the other hand, exists when factually incorrect information is used to advertise a product. For example, saying that a car gets 35 miles per gallon when it actually only gets 30 mpg is a fake ad.