Best Practices When Making Competitor Comparison Claims
Ensure statements are not disparaging
Calling out the differences between your product and competitor products is permitted, but “poking the bear” often leads to competitor challenges. This NAD case involves a well-known mattress company challenging another competitor’s claims as disparaging.
The challenged claims in social media posts made statements such as the other mattress was “just a glorified air mattress.” According to NAD, the advertisements created a “misleading impression, suggesting Sleep Number beds are comparable to temporary air mattresses that consumers would not use for their regular sleeping needs.”
Here is an example of one of the posts.
So, where is the line between truthful comparison and being disparaging? Here are some tips.
Truthful comparison
Keep the scope narrow and ensure you have supporting data while being careful with implied claims in imagery.
- Truthful and supportable statements such as “Our foam conforms to your body shape while brand X’s spring coils do not.”
- Comparisons based on objective tests or third-party data, such as “In lab testing, our mattress reduced pressure points by 30% versus air-chamber designs.”
- Puffery: I love this topic and have written more about it here.
Disparaging claims
Implied claims like imagery matter!
Even if an actual statement is true, it can be disparaging if it infers negative connotations such as “basically an air mattress,” which implies it is bad quality or uncomfortable unless there is undeniable and defensible supporting data.
Read the NAD decision here.
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