Advertising Foes Meet in Court

In the competitive world of advertising, many companies have been winding up in court to settle claims for false advertisments. Two benefits can come from cases that end up in court, first if the plainiff can prove that the defendant's advertisments are false right away, then the plaintiff can get a restraining order on the advertisment and get it pulled from the airways. Hopefully before consumers have the chance to see the advertisment. Second, if the plaintiff can prove monetary damage, meaning that the market share has been impacted by these misleading advertisments, the plaintiff can get money from the defendant. However, in the time of a recession, lawsuits are expensive and a waste of money. But Progresso and Campbells seem to think otherwise, after a commerical launch by Campbells of an actress doing blind taste testing. First she tried the soup that was Progresso and claimed that she taste MSG and sodium. Then she tried Campbell's Select Harvest and claimed that all the flavors tasted natural and from scratch. Progresso took the claims to the National Advertising Division to figure out what could and could not be said. However by the time the decision was final the market share had already been impacted and neither company benefited and sales of soup had dropped altogether. Stephanie Clifford, reporter for the New York Times, in the article "Advertising Foes Meet in Court Companies Challenge Competitor Claims," November 20, 2009 audio edition, said that consumers and the government have always sued advertisers for false or misleading claims. Companines are now playing a bigger role in the court proceedings. Most advertising campaigns are designed to be competitive, the consumers have the right to know the faults of products even if that information is brought by the opposing company. Regardless of aggressive campaign tactics if a product is durable and beneficial then customers will buy it. On the other hand, if the product is poorly made there will little chance for the company to build brand loyal customers.