Puffery is a term that refers to practices that make claims about a company or product that are not true but sound good.
Puffery is a type of exaggeration used in advertising and marketing to make something seem better than it really is. In general, puffery can be considered a type of exaggeration made up for the purpose of making an impression on customers.
Accordingly, puffery is not necessarily false advertising; rather, it’s an attempt to create positive feelings about your company or product using questionable information that may not be entirely accurate but sounds good enough to make you want to buy something from them (or at least consider doing so).
Puffery is a form of deception that can be used to make claims about a company or product that are not true.
The FTC has detailed rules on puffery, which say that companies must disclose when they exaggerate the value of their products or services. This includes:
In order to avoid becoming guilty of puffery, it’s important that you be honest about the benefits of your product. Make sure your claims are truthful and accurate and don’t make any statements that are too good to be true (or at least not believable).
For example:
It can be used as a marketing strategy by companies that want to increase their sales and gain more customers. It’s also used as an excuse for poor-quality products or services because they have no evidence to back up their claims.
For example: “Our product is the best!” – The truth is your competitors’ products might be just as good at doing what you claim yours does (or even better).
Puffery can be a difficult thing to avoid, but it isn’t impossible. A good first step is to make sure you have clear policies in place for how your company will be communicating with customers and clients. You might also consider writing down some guidelines for what types of claims are appropriate—for example, claims that are based on scientific evidence or facts about your brand’s experience with similar products—so that they don’t get inadvertently overlooked when employees discuss them internally within their company.
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