Why is puffery legal




















The Fair Trading Act allows some leeway when statements are clearly puffery. This is because most reasonable consumers are aware that some exaggeration occurs in advertising. Businesses should still take care when making 'puffery' claims, as even if a claim is a clear exaggeration, it may break the law if it causes consumers to be misled.

The more seemingly factual a claim is, the greater the risk it will breach the law if it is misleading or deceptive. However, the line between puffery and false advertisement can be a tricky one. Therefore, businesses that are making representations about their goods or services should take care to avoid statements that are false, deceptive, or misleading.

If you feel that you have been wrongfully affected by a statement, you may wish to consult with a lawyer. An experienced business attorney can represent in court and advise you on whether a representation is mere puffery or a serious misrepresentation.

Also, if you are a business entity or a seller of products, you may also wish to contact one or more fraud lawyers specializing in consumer protection. Your attorney can review your statements and representations to determine whether they fall within the boundaries of law.

Ken LaMance. Ken joined LegalMatch in January Since arriving, Ken has worked with a wide assortment of talented lawyers, paralegals, and law students to grow LegalMatch's Law Library into a comprehensive source of legal information, written in a way that is accessible to everyone.

Ken holds a J. Jose Rivera. Law Library Disclaimer. Can't find your category? Click here. Choose a Legal Category: Family Law. Real Estate and Property Law. While there is no bright line rule when parsing false advertising from puffery, this article seeks to shed some light on that calculus.

Eventually, a consumer sued the company after it refused to reimburse the customer who contracted the flu. Although the three judge panel ruled against the manufacturer, the decision endorsed the notion that traditional rules relating to promises might not apply to advertisements that were clearly not meant to be taken seriously.

The legal defense of puffery was born. The puffery defense became more prevalent in the early s when U. Simmons Manufacturing Co. Today, the legal definition of puffery differs somewhat from jurisidiction-to-jurisdiction. The U. Healthcare, Inc. Blue Cross of Greater Philadelphia.

Textron, Inc. While these products may seem to have little in common, they have a shared experience — each was the target of a false advertising claim. The statements raise the always-burning question for manufacturers: what is mere puffery and what constitutes false advertising?

A court may determine that advertising is actionable, on the other hand, when the advertisement contains statements or claims that are objectively capable of being proven true or false.

Thus, to distinguish between puffery and false advertising, courts will consider whether the statement at issue is one of measurable fact, or whether it is incapable of objective verification. Courts will also consider whether any reasonable person would rely on the statements in making a purchasing decision. Better Pizza. But the lesson is clear: even if a slogan or tagline is puffery, statements made in other ads or on other parts of a product label may lead a court to decide that the slogan is misleading.

Before companies launch their next great ad campaign, they may want to keep a few pointers in mind to combat potential false advertising claims:. For that reason, terminology that may be standard in the industry may not be as clear to a consumer. Check relevant agency guidelines — certain industries are highly regulated when it comes to advertising claims.

She has automotive manufacturing, asbestos, and class actions experience. Malerie has also worked on multidistrict civil litigation and governmental investigations.

Before joining Schiff Hardin, Malerie was a litigation associate in the New York office of an international law firm. Skip to main content. New Articles. Villalobos and Ayumary M. Tea and Kelsi E. Heiden and Audrey R.



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