The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 27, 1978, Page Page 11, Image 11
Ad impl
By MARY LOU SMART
Gamecock Staff Writer
Some advertising causes people
to read more into an advertisement
than is actually there, Dr. Terence
Shimp, an associate professor of
maplratincf nf ITC/"* eoi/l
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Incomplete comparison
statements in advertisements use
such comparative adjectives as
"better" and "cleaner," leaving it
to the consumer to decide what an
advertised product might be better
or cleaner than.
These ads make no direct
comparisons against competing
brands. "Dial is better," one ad
claims. "Better than what?"
Shimp asks.
THE PURPOSE of Slump's
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study was to determine if this type
of advertising is misleading to
consumers. "People introduce
their own personal perceptions to
obtain meaning from advertising/'
says Shimp. Advertisers
know this, he said, and
use it to allow consumers to draw
their own conclusions.
In the experiments students
were exposed to incomplete
comparison statements that appeared
in television commercials.
For example, "Cougar is built
better to give you more" and the
statement, "Mennen goes on
warmer and drier."
In each experiment more than
two-thirds of each group read
additional meaning into the
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percent of the students said the car
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is built better to give you more
luxury and sportiness when "in
actuality the ad made no reference
whatsoever to the automobile's
value. This suggests that receivers
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ui an aa comprenena more than
what is actually contained," Shimp
said.
THE IMPLICATION of the
findings, according to Shimp, is
that some advertisements may
deceive consumers not so much by
what is directly stated in the ads,
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ad consu
as by what they imply. ,
The FTC does nothing to protect
the consumer from incomplete
comparison advertising, Shimp
said, because it falls into the
category of "puffery" which is not
dealt with by the FTC.
However, the National Advertising
Review Board does not
look favorably at incomplete
comparison advertising and has
been known to compel its members
to be more explicit, according to
Shimp. But the board has no
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control over non-members and
forms no real threat to advertisers
who prefer to use this form of
"empty" advertising, Shimp said.
Consumers can do little to
control their reactions to the many
inCOmnlPtP mmnaricnn " ^
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vertisements they are bombarded
with each day, according to Shimp.
"These reactions are almost involuntary."
You can't tell people
not to complete incomplete
comparison advertising, Shimp
said.
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