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Bashing Competitors Can Lead to Challenges

Playful ads can attract scrutiny

Bashing Competitors Can Lead to Challenges

Bashing competitors, even unnamed ones, can lead to competitor challenges.

In this post, I review this National Advertising Division case where General Mills challenges television commercials by Welch's Fruit Snacks. In the commercials, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay throws away generically labeled "Fruit Flavored Snacks" by tossing them out of a window and even spitting them out. In my opinion, the commercial is actually pretty good. It can be watched here


🔹From NAD. "NAD determined that one reasonable takeaway from the commercials is that the whole fruit content of Welch's Fruit Snacks makes it a superior product for consumers."


NAD also determined that the dramatic throwing away of the generic products was considered "ash canning," which depicts "competing products like General Mills' fruit snacks as lacking any positive value." The term "ash canning" in advertising refers to a practice of depicting competing products as having little or no value and implies that the competing product is so inferior that it might as well be discarded like ashes.

Here's another NAD case involving "ash canning," where a beer company was asked to discontinue a commercial with imagery and a "Light beer shouldn't talk like water. It should taste like beer. "statement.


In the beer case, NAD offers this information regarding the needed substantiation. 


🔹 "NAD determined that tasting "like water" is a measurable attribute. Reliable sensory testing could demonstrate whether consumers detect a watery taste or the complete absence of taste. Consumers may also reasonably expect that the statement is supported by such evidence.

Good resource here; I came across the ABC Television: Advertising Standards & Guidelines document, which has some helpful high level information on things like puffery, ash canning, and substantiation of performance and efficacy claims.

The moral of this story is to use caution when bashing even anonymous products, especially the litigious ones with deep pockets, to initiate challenges. 


Read the case summary here




DATE ORIGINALLY POSTED: 10/16/24


Disclaimer: The educational information provided here is for informational purposes only. Contact an attorney for specific legal advice. Rule #1 in compliance is to ensure marketing is truthful and not misleading.

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