SAGE Reference - Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime

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Puffery

By: David R. Simon
In: Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime
Edited by: Lawrence M. Salinger, Ph.D.
Subject:White Collar & Corporate Crime

A FORM OF deceptive advertising, puffery has immense consequences. The term refers to the practice of making exaggerated claims for a product. Although advertisers routinely make such false claims, and the result is deception, the law considers such practices to be legal. Puffery claims are communicated in the form of unprovable superlatives (that is adjectives such as the best, super, new and improved), often in the form of various advertising slogans:

Blatz is Milwaukee's finest beerNestle makes the very best chocolateFord gives you better ideasYou can be sure if it's WestinghouseBarnum and Bailey, the greatest show on earthCoke is the real thingSeagram's, America's number one ginWinston tastes good like a cigarette shouldBMW: the ultimate driving machineApple Computers: the power to be your best

None of the slogans ...

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  Simon, D. (2005). Puffery. In L. M. Salinger, (Ed.), Encyclopedia of white-collar & corporate crime (Vol. 1, pp. 653-653). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412914260.n353
  
  Simon, David R. "Puffery." In Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime, edited by Salinger,, Lawrence M., 653-653. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412914260.n353.
  
  Simon, D. 2005. Puffery. In: Lawrence M. Salinger, Editor, 2005. Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 653 Available at: <http://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412914260.n353> [Accessed 16 Jun 2021].
  
  Simon, David R. "Puffery." Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime. Edited by Lawrence M. Salinger,. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2005, pp. 653-653. SAGE Knowledge. 16 Jun 2021, doi: http://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412914260.n353.
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