Misleading Advertising

Right now Telus and Rogers are caught up in a lawsuit over an ad that was running last month about a Rabbit and a Leopard in a race. It's actually a pretty amusing ad, where the leopard (Rogers) just eats the rabbit (Telus) before the race begins. Problem is, Rogers claims that they are faster than Telus in the process, or something like that, and bam! the lawyers were called.

I had an ACA Bulletin cross my desk today about some other famous misleading advertising cases. My favourite was how Remington's Micro Screen Ultimate Shaver claimed to be the closest shave. Their claim in the their Canadian advertising was 'Shaves as close as a blade and closer than any other electric shaver...Remington Ultimate tests prove it.". The problem this time was that they only tested the razor against the other leading brands, but not against the remaining 5-10% of the market. Bam! The lawyers were called in again.

Remington did the test again, and sure enough, they were beat out. The ads were pulled, and the words 'any other leading brand' became a part of our everyday vernacular, right up there with 'part of a balanced breakfast' and 'some conditions apply'.