Us vs. Them.
Comparative advertising, or combative advertising, is a technique almost as old as advertising itself. A simple head-to-head, in which a particular brand, or service, specifically mentions a competitor by name for the express purpose of showing why the competitor is inferior to the brand naming it.
That said, prior to the 1970s, comparative advertising in the US was deemed almost unfeasible due to related legal risks. But in 1972, the FTC began to encourage advertisers to make comparison with named competitors, with the broad public welfare objective of creating more informative advertising. The FTC argued that this form of advertising could also stimulate comparison shopping, encourage product improvement and innovation, and foster a positive competitive environment.
We’re all familiar with the advertising wars – victors and vanquished – that were: Coke vs. Pepsi. McDonald’s vs. Burger King. Hertz vs. Avis. Apple vs PC. And now we can add the new Yeti vs. Unnecessary Trash work, which I love. It’s simple and to the point, as all good advertising should be. I just hope it stands the test of time – like the products – and does a little better than Microsoft’s Bing vs. Google. Can anyone remember the “Bing it on” campaign, or even Bing? In that case it was good riddance to unnecessary trash.
Click here to see original LinkedIn post.