Marketers are taking more jabs at their competitors in advertising, and the rivals are striking back through the courts or by filing complaints with the National Advertising Division of the Council of
Better Business Bureaus, Theresa Howard reports. The NAD has already logged 37 claims from marketers this year vs. 84 for all of 2008.
"With the slightest hint of denigration, people are
challenging each other," says NAD director Andrea Levine. Current cases include Cadbury challenging Wrigley's ads for Eclipse gum, which the NAD ruled had "methodological flaws" and Whirlpool
challenging Electrolux' claim that its cooking range "boils water in 90 seconds," which the NAD recommended be dropped.
Coke and Pepsi, meanwhile, are battling in federal court after
Gatorade sued Coke for "overstating the product benefits" of Powerade Ion4.
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