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Business markets are today as
uncompromising and
aggressive as they can be. Every brand tries to prove
it's superiority over the rival. Sigmund Freud once
said, "Humans are born screaming for attention." Indeed,
it is from this very basic survival instinct that competitiveness
is born. Success at every stage of life is judged by how one can weigh up
to competition and to deny competitiveness in advertising
is both duplicitous as well as impractical. Hence to outdo
the competition and prove oneself as the best, marketers often resort
to comparative advertisements. Theoretically,
comparative advertisements are a form of little aggressive promotional
strategies adopted by a company. They aim to establish competitive supremacy
by attacking the rival brand/brands directly or indirectly.
The comparative claims done by different advertisers are of
variable nature. They may range from being explicit about the name or
feature of the competitor's product or may give subtle implicit reference of
the same. Comparative advertising thus aims to objectively and
truthfully inform the consumer, and promotes market transparency, keeping
down prices and improving products by stimulating competition.
However, most of the times, comparative advertising leads to
confusion, misleads or discredit a competitor.
The early years of glorified television commercials saw
the attractive and appealing housewife extol the benefits of her
favorite product rather than the infamous competitor's brand. The
viewer would often try to guess the real identity of the compared
brand. Today, advertisers are no longer shy to highlight on air or in print
their leading competitors. They celebrate the merits of their
products, explaining why they are better than the competitors'
products'. Globally, comparative ads have been around for decades. The model
ads of Penn Tennis Balls from Fallon McElligot, the "Get a Mac"
for Apple are some of the prominent examples of the same. The
battles between brands are now growing intense in India also which
is evident from the most famous cola wars in the past decade to the
recent Onida vs. Nokia advertisement war. The latest provoking
commercial from Rinclaiming to be better than Tide has opened the doors
by frontal attacks, a so-called offensive marketing strategy. The punch
line in the advertisement "Tide se kahin behtar safedi de
Rin (Rin gives more whiteness than Tide)" says it
all direct on the face, it not just names but shows the competitive
product, bringing the debate on comparative advertising back in spotlight. |
