Use Of Comparative Advertising Research Articles

Strategic incentives for comparative advertising investments in non-zero-sum competition and economic consequences

Persuasive advertising is viewed as an effective tool to affect willingness-to-pay of customers for a firm’s product. In their use of persuasive advertising, firms typically face the choice of whether to tout the benefits of their own products without mentioning rival products (self-promotional advertising) or make references to rival products while promoting their own products (comparative advertising). A concomitant (and intrinsic) issue in the use of comparative advertising is whether to portray rival products negatively or positively and the level of comparative intensity (the valence of comparative advertising). Although it is often criticized and disapproved of by business decision makers and its effectiveness has been a subject of contentious debate, comparative advertising is used prevalently by firms in consumer goods markets. In this paper, we examine the strategic incentives of competing firms to abandon their self-promotional advertising in favor of comparative advertising, the ways in which they choose a positive or negative valence in their comparative advertising, and the economic consequences of these decisions. We consider a simultaneous (and a leader-follower Stackelberg) game between two asymmetric firms vying for customers in a market that is not characterized by zero-sum competition. We also study the possibility that comparative advertising elicits positive or negative market externalities on the advertised product. We seek market- and channel-based explanations for why firms may opt to undertake comparative advertising (in lieu of self-promotional advertising) and use its constructive or combative form. We show that the use of comparative advertising can be an effective tactic in attaining certain objectives and when carefully executed in certain ways, and detrimental to not only the advertising firm but also the product category in other ways.

Using strengths to attack weaknesses - The effect of comparative advertising on purchasing intention of green products.

Firms increasingly use comparative advertising in green marketing to convey information of green products to consumers, but there is still a lack of research on the effect and mechanism of comparative advertising in the green products field. Across four experimental studies, we show that comparative advertising facilitates consumers' purchase intention of green products (PIGP), because comparative advertising lead to higher perceived diagnosticity of Information. Yet, comparative advertising does not always bring high intention to buy green products. When using egoistic appeals, the perceived diagnosticity of information and purchase intention of green products were higher in comparative advertising than in non-comparative advertising. When utilizing altruistic appeals, there was no significant difference between the two kinds of advertising. In addition, individual differences of consumers also affect the effect of comparative advertising. The positive effect of comparative advertising on the purchase intention of green products is weakened for consumers with high green involvement. Our findings advance existing knowledge about the use of comparative advertising in green marketing and provide enlightening suggestions for how firms can promote consumers to buy green products.

ПОРІВНЯЛЬНА РЕКЛАМА В КОНТЕКСТІ ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛЬНОЇ ВЛАСНОСТІ

The article is aimed at analyzing of existing legislation on the use of comparative advertising in Ukraine. The author establishes that legislation on intellectual property plays a crucial role if a competitor's intellectual property rights are infringed by the use of comparative advertising. The purpose of the article is to analyze comparative advertising in the context of intellectual property, as well as to define the objects of intellectual property that can be used in comparative advertising. The latest changes in legislation regarding comparative advertising are analyzed. Such changes allow the use of images, trademarks or other symbols in comparative advertising. Comparative advertising was actually prohibited in Ukraine until November 12, 2019, although its use was prescribed in the legislation. But in practice, however, such use was not possible because use in such comparative advertising objects of intellectual property competitors was not enough regulated. The amendments to current legislation on comparative advertising have settled the aspects of using objects of intellectual property in comparative advertising. The article proves that for the purpose of comparative advertising creation, it is essential to adhere to the laws and regulations that are governed by intellectual property law. In the article, the author analyzes some countries' legislation on comparative advertising, namely the USA, the United Kingdom, the EU Member States. The author has found the basic elements and the objects of intellectual property that could be used in comparative advertising. The author comes to the conclusion that for the creation of comparative advertising, the crucial role of intellectual property in comparative advertising should be clearly recognized.

Non‐Comparative and Comparative Advertising in Oligopolistic Markets

We study firms’ advertising strategies in an oligopolistic market in which both non‐comparative and comparative advertising are present. We show that in equilibrium firms mix over the two types of advertising, with the intensity of comparative advertising exceeding that of non‐comparative advertising; moreover, that the intensity of comparative increases relatively to non‐comparative advertising as market competition intensifies. Interestingly, the use of comparative advertising may lead to higher consumers’ surplus and welfare in a mixed advertising market than in the absence of advertising or when either comparative or non‐comparative advertising is not present.

Comparative Advertisement and Infringment of Trademark

In a comparative environment every representation of a product or service is about what others are not. Comparative advertisement is advertising where a party advertises his goods or service by comparing them with goods and services of others party. This is generally done to define or comparing his goods or may be suggesting that this is superior or good quality product. New or unknown brand benefit most from comparative advertisement. In Belgium prohibits, Netherlands, no outright prohibition, Spain adopted a more lenient position, Portugal allows, but strictly limits, Greece allows the limited use of comparative advertising. Denmark generally allows comparative advertising provided. Although the Benelux counties and Germany, who did not welcome comparative advertising, Prior to 1994, comparative advertisement was relatively uncommon in the UK. Although India has no particular law regarding comparative advertisement like USA, UK, yet Delhi High court has ruled to some extent Monopolies of Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1984 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999 talks about comparative advertisement. A party has a right to advertise its product making commendation about its quality. Advertisement being a commercial speech which is a part of the freedom of speech is guaranteed under article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution Federal Trade Commission in US and EU both promoted comparative advertisement because it enables consumers to reach more informed and rational purchasing decisions, increasing consumer information and comprehensive of the brand in the process. If a rival uses a competitor's trade mark in a comparative advertisement for identical or similar products without the consent of the proprietor, such use would prima facia infringe the rights of the proprietor of the mark, such advertising was not permitted under the Trade Mark Act.

A History of the Media Industry's Self-Regulation of Comparative Advertising

The unique problems for the media industry posed by the increasingly widespread use of comparative advertising throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first have not been examined prior to the research in this article. Sources consisted of articles published in the advertising trade literature, including, for the early twentieth century, the industry's foremost journal, Printers’ Ink. Findings reveal comparative advertising was rarely viewed as anything other than a serious problem for publishers and broadcasters and also show that disparagement and the validity of comparative claims have been the principal problems driving media advertising self-regulation policies. The article concludes with recommendations for future historical research on the challenges that comparative advertising has created for other entities and institutions involved in the regulation of advertising.

Comparative Advertising in the European Union

More than 20 years after the measure was first proposed, the European Union has finally succeeded in adopting a directive designed to harmonise disparate national laws relating to the use of comparative advertising in the single market.1 In this article the authors examine the background, rationale and substance of the new legislation, before considering its impact on the current UK law. With a view to the possibility that implementation may contribute to the transatlantic harmonisation of advertising law, the new regime is measured against the liberal benchmark of US case law and recent Federal Trade Commission policy.

The Effects of Negative Comparative Political Advertising on Candidate Evaluations and Advertising Evaluations: An Exploration

Currently, political candidates employ a mix of strategies that includes the use of comparative advertising as a means of communicating negative information about an opponent to prospective voters while avoiding the stigma attached to purely negative “attack” advertising. An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of negative comparative political advertising on candidate and advertising evaluations. The results indicate that negative comparative advertising lowers targeted-candidate evaluations without lowering sponsoring-candidate evaluations, despite the low credibility ratings received by such advertising. The results are discussed in relation to other research findings and in terms of both campaign strategy and public policy implications.

Legal Aspects of Comparative Advertising and a Strategy for Its Use

This paper will consider the web of laws governing the use of comparative advertising in Australia, with some attention given to the law in Europe and the US. It should also be acknowledged that in Australia at least, there exists a plethora of industry associations enforcing a range of voluntary codes. These include the industry- wide codes of the Media Council of Australia (MCA), codes adopted by associations of media proprietors, such as the Federation of Commercial Television Stations (FACTS) and the Federation of Australian Broadcasters (FARB). The Advertising Standards Council (ASC) is an independent Council which deals with complaints that advertisers breach MCA codes. All advertisements must be approved by the appropriate body before they are broadcast (eg FACTS for television advertisements).

Professionals' Attitudes Concerning the Ethics of Comparative Advertising

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study is to answer how four professional groups-physicians, dentists, attorneys, and accountants-perceive comparative advertising. Specifically, this study attempts to answer; (1) how the four professionals perceive comparative advertising in terms of ethics, (2) whether there is any significant difference among the four professionals regarding the ethical scales of comparative advertising, and (3) what the relationship between the ethics and their intended use of comparative advertising. This study found that in general, all four professionals believed that the hypothetical example of comparative advertising adopted by this study is unethical and expressed a strong reservation to use this format of advertising in the future. This study also found some differences in their beliefs of specific ethical items and intentions to use among the four professional groups.

The use of comparative advertising in business-to-business direct mail

More than twenty years ago, the Federal Trade Commission began to encourage the use of comparative advertising, the aggressive tactic of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement. Although numerous articles have been written about this practice since the early 1970s, none has addressed the use of comparative advertising in the direct mail medium, in general, or specifically in business-to-business direct mail. Because sales from direct mail advertising now exceed $120 million annually, and direct mail use in industrial marketing is increasing, this void in the literature needs to be filled. Therefore, this study examined hundreds of pieces of current year business-to-business direct mail advertising to determine the frequency of use and nature of comparative advertising employed in business-to-business direct mail. The results indicate that the incidence of use of comparisons in business-to-business direct mail is less frequent than that found in other business periodicals. Moreover, the nature of direct mail business-to-business comparisons is different in several other respects from those seen in the business print media.

The Use of Comparative Advertising for Brand Positioning: Association Versus Differentiation

The explicit superiority claims in direct comparative ads should facilitate differentiation of the advertised brand from the comparison brand. However, prior research suggests that such ads primarily associate brands. This problem is investigated by considering the categorization and inferential processes elicited by direct comparative ads. Results suggest that direct comparative ads can enhance consumers' perceptions of the advertised brand by associating it with the comparison brand and simultaneously differentiate the brands by lowering consumers' perceptions of the comparison brand on the featured attribute. But both effects are contingent on the typicality of the featured attribute and the familiarity of the advertised brand. A key finding is that direct comparative ads are most effective for both unfamiliar and familiar advertised brands when the featured attribute is typical of the category.

Legal Issues Surrounding the Use of Comparative Advertising: What the Non-Prescriptive Drug Industry Has Taught Us

Comparative advertising has been one of the most widely researched advertising topics during the last 15 years. At the same time, its use has led to an unprecedented increase in private lawsuits. This article focuses on the use of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act as a basis for these lawsuits. It describes the lengthy litigation occurring between two major over-the-counter (OTC) pain reliever manufacturers, American Home Products and Johnson & Johnson, in their continuing efforts to stop and/or instigate change in each other's comparative advertising claims. Implications of the critical legal issues surrounding comparative advertising are presented for both practitioners and public policymakers.

Comparative advertising in horizontal business publications

Comparative advertising, the practice of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement, is well known to industrial marketers. This article focuses on the use of comparative advertising in the three leading business publications: Business Week, Forbes, and Fortune. The authors studied approximately 2900 full-page advertisements from 1970 through 1985. It was found that there was a significant increase in the use of comparative advertising during this period; in fact, the use of comparative advertising nearly tripled from 1970 to 1985. Although the predominant use of comparative advertising involves implied comparisons, there has been a continuing increase in the use of the more aggressive strictly comparative format.

Comparative industrial advertising: The content and frequency

Comparative advertising is the pratice of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of comparative advertising in widely circulated industrial publications. The study examined approximately 2100 full-page advertisements in major trade publications for the years 1970, 1975, and 1980. It was found that comparative advertising is not the dominant format for industrial journal advertising. Further, there was a significant decrease in the use of comparative advertising from 1975 to 1980. Nevertheless, when industrial advertisers use comparative advertising, they tend to rely more frequently on implied comparisons rather than on the more aggressive, strictly comparative format. Also, industrial marketers seem to be more inclined to stress product features rather than price, distribution, or promotion when using comparative advertising.

Comparative Advertising: A Reexamination of the Issues

The increasing use of comparative advertising in very diverse market situations demands the attention of public policy makers in the promulgation of regulations governing conditions of its use.

A Taxonomy for Comparative Advertising Research

Abstract The use of comparative advertising has escalated from an occasional, partially disguised acknowledgement of the competition to direct, point-by-point comparisons of the sponsored and competing brands. This article presents a conceptual framework for classifying and evaluating different comparison advertising formats. The framework identifies different formats along two multi-level dimensions. Examples of several research questions that could be addressed using the framework are presented.