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Advertisers' Responses to Requests for Substantiation of Product Claims: Differences by Product Category, Type of Claim and Advertising Medium
Author(s) -
CONEY KENNETH A.,
PATTI CHARLES H.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.1979.tb00141.x
Subject(s) - advertising , product (mathematics) , commission , product type , business , product category , sample (material) , marketing , computer science , mathematics , chemistry , geometry , finance , chromatography , programming language
A sample of major advertisers of durable and nondurable consumer products were asked to provide substantiation of scientific and puffery product claims made in television and magazine advertising. The companies were asked to respond directly to an interested consumer and the responses were evaluated on an “average man” basis. The results indicated that many advertisers cannot or will not successfully substantiate their product claims despite the efforts of the Federal Trade Commission's advertising substantiation program. One proposed remedy is to require advertisers to substantiate claims directly to consumers, on request.