Flanking and revitalization of any product or the services, either by
adding few new flavors, or by re- introducing them with some new
additional feature are common in business world. They have the right to
re-introduce the product, and boost up the market share. Same deluxe bus
gets painted, and the name includes the word ‘New’ before its previous
name. This is tolerable and acceptable too.
‘Puffery’ is the term
used in advertising world. This is that claim made by the advertiser
where the advertising may include the claim, which cannot be proved
wrong. However, puffery cannot be proved right either. And this is used
increasingly in the advertisements in Nepal.
Profit
maximization is no longer the only objective of any business, because,
there has appeared other objectives like building of the quality,
gaining customer loyalty, building brand, employee satisfaction and
others as well. Hence, making a false statement may lead to profit
building in the short run. However, it will harm the other objectives of
the firm. It is important for advertisements to be ethical. Advertisers
generally don’t make false claims.
However, they have been using
‘puffery’ a lot. This puffery may help increase brand image for the
product, but will certainly not increase the sales. No one drinks the
energy drink to get extra power. No one drinks that soft drink to kill
the fear within them and find victory. They won’t make any bad impact on
sales, or brand image. However claiming ‘Number 1’, be it on steels,
cements, pipes, or tanks is certainly not a wise idea. The aggressive
advertisements used are not enough to create a brand. As a customer I
have brand image for every brand of cement of the same. My brand image
for two different mobile companies however differs.A comedy actor,
appears wearing a doctor’s uniform and claims that this is the best
sanitary pad. Or a superstar appears wearing helmet and dress of an
engineer, claiming that this is best steel ever. Or, a popular singer in
the dress of an engineer claims that this is best cement. These are no
ways to persuade consumers.
Advertisement is a form of investment,
however, it is equally necessary to make a proper investment thereby.
Spending upto maximum limit certainly is not a wise idea, after all,
increasing level of investment for advertisements would not assure
bigger markets. So, instead of focusing on puffery, it is high time
Nepali products developed in developing brands.
A version of this article appears in print on April 06, 2016 of The Himalayan Times.
Flanking and revitalization of any product or the services, either by
adding few new flavors, or by re- introducing them with some new
additional feature are common in business world. They have the right to
re-introduce the product, and boost up the market share. Same deluxe bus
gets painted, and the name includes the word ‘New’ before its previous
name. This is tolerable and acceptable too.
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