15 Facts About Comparative advertising

Comparative advertising, or combative advertising, is an advertisement in which a particular product, or service, specifically mentions a competitor by name for the express purpose of showing why the competitor is inferior to the product naming it.

An advertising war is said to be occurring when competing products or services exchange comparative or combative advertisements mentioning each other.

Similarly, the Law Council of Australia recently suggested that comparative advertising refers to "advertising which include reference to a competitor's trademark in a way which does not impute proprietorship in the mark to the advertiser".

For instance, comparative advertising could invite misidentification of products, potential legal issues, and might even win public sympathy for their competitors as victims.

Comparative advertising that is truthful, and does not lead to confusion is permitted.

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Generally, Australian advertisers should make sure that the following are complied when exercising comparative advertising to avoid breaches regarding misleading advertising under Australia Consumer Law:.

For example, in Germany comparisons in Comparative advertising had since the 1930s been largely prohibited as an anti-competitive practice, with very limited exceptions for cases where the advertiser had a good reason for presenting a critical claim, and reference to a competitor was necessary in order to present that claim.

Law in Hong Kong regarding comparative advertising is the law that existed in the UK prior to the enactment of the UK Act 1994.

Comparative advertising has been increasingly implemented through the years, and the types of comparative advertising range from comparing a single attribute dimension, comparing an attribute unique to the target and absent in the referent and comparisons involving attributes unique to both brands.

The contributing factors to the effectiveness of comparative advertising include believability, which refers to the extent a consumer can rely on the information provided in comparative advertisements, the level of involvement, and the convenience in evaluation, provided by spoon feeding the consumer with information that does not require extra effort in recall.

Comparative advertising is generally coupled with negativity, as evidenced by early industry condemnation.

Comparative advertising has been used effectively by companies like The National Australia Bank.

Such companies prove the academic view that comparative advertising is more successful when used by established brands, justified by the credibility and attention an established brand brings.

Comparative advertising has to be executed with caution and deep consideration for the targeted markets as the novelty of the concept affects the effectiveness of the stipulated campaigns.

Use of comparative advertising has been well established in political campaigns, where typically one candidate will run ads where the record of the other candidate is displayed, for the purpose of disparaging the other candidate.