Great State Wheat Flakes Can’t Be Beat

Betty, who has been employed for three years as a copywriter for HK&M, a mid-size advertising agency specializing in consumer packaged fulls, has been f eerishly get goinging for the past week on a new ad campaign for Great call forths wheat flakes, a regional breakfast cereal. The basis has been with the agency for several years. Although Charlie, the brand manager on this cereal, has been pleased with the agencys work over the years, the old positioning, which stressed taste attributes and fun-filled family breakfasts, has become tired and dated.Marketing investigate shows a high degree of consumer wearoutpeople are tired of the campaign, level annoyed with it, and are ready for something fresh. Bettys task was to rejuvenate the brand via displace it to take advantage of and tie into the health and salubrious being trends, specifically the interest in eating good-for-you food as well as in physical fitness. The brand was to be pitched as an grand part of an active, health y lifestyle.Betty thought she had come up with the perfect theme line Great States wheat flakes will give a gravid start to your active day, and she had developed what she believed were some clever scenarios for TV and bell ringer ads featuring the convergence being consumed after workouts in health clubs, following a morning jog, after a snowboarding expedition, to power up before rollerblading, and heretofore while zipping along on a scooter (Look Ma, no hands ). However, upon reviewing her proposals, Charlie said that while the vignettes were on target because health-conscious customers would relate well to them, the slogan was off base.He wanted something to a greater extent specific and hard hitting, and so Charlie developed the theme line, Great State Wheat flakes cant be beat. No other wheat flake offers you more vitamins and minerals and fewer calories. Betty tried to loving tell Charlie that this was misleading because it implies that Great States brand is healthier t han most, if not all, of the others, whereas sincerely all wheat flake cereals are parity products they are virtual(prenominal) photocopies of separately other in terms of taste, texture, and, most important here, constitution and therefore nutritional value.In fact, blind taste tests have shown that between 70 and 80 per cent of consumers cannot identify their favorite brand of wheat flakes and that verity levels are low with price incentives consumers will readily switch brands. Charlie, ostensibly irritated, explained that his tag linewas an honest travesty, what the advertising trade termed puffing, and that consumers are expected to appear through it. He mat that it offered the point of difference needed to adjoin brand loyalty. Betty, feeling uneasy, later that day approached her boss Steve, the copy point at HK&M, asking his counsel.Steve explained that Charlies suggested slogan is what is called an implied superiority claim. Steve explained that such claims are commonly made for commodity brands. They stake out a parity position, which does not claim to be superior to, but only as good as, other brands, while using copy that suggests or implies superiority for the named brand. He cited several current and classical examples, such as Nothing else cleans better, The maximum fluoride protection in some(prenominal) toothpaste, You cant beat the savings, You cant buy a more effective pain reliever, and Nothing is proven to work better or last longer. In effect, these brands are claiming that they are unsurpassed. However, none claims to be truly better than their competitors. Betty, recalling several other such implied superiority claims she had recently seen, know that it was, indeed, a popular technique. Steve reminded Betty that there is a distinction between tawdry advertising, which creates false impressions and misleads a consumer acting reasonably, and trade puffing, which is exaggerated praise of the product (e. g. , Almost Home coo kies are the moistest, chewiest, most perfectly baked cookies ever Nestle makes the very best chocolate).Puffery is viewed as acceptable in a society of the superlative. Consumers are assumed to see through the exaggeration or at least engage in a impulsive suspension of disbelief. He explained to her that whereas deceptive advertising is il forkingal, the Federal Trade military mission (FTC), which monitors national advertising for accuracy and fairness in claims, views puffery as legitimate. Whats more, Steve reason somewhat sarcastically, using your line of reasoning, Betty, we shouldnt at all advertise any parity products, since all brand advertising is designed to create a brand distinction in the buyers mind.Advertising is necessary to differentiate yourself from the pack of imitators. And, it helps a small, underdog brand like Great State get a leg up on the big, deep-pocketed companies like our rivals. Betty thought that, in fact, Steves taunting stimulant might, indeed , have some merit. In fact, she feared that it might force Great States competitors to improve and differentiate their cereals, thereby benefiting consumers (but harming Great State). Nonetheless, she still felt uneasy.It seemed to her that the implied superiority claim crossed the boundary from puffery over to deception. QUESTIONS/EXERCISES 1. Identify the honorable issues facing Betty regarding the nature of the proposed Implied superiority advertising claim. 2. What are the ethical issues Betty encounters with mention to organizational relationships and conflicts? 3. What are the possible decision alternatives Betty could devise, and what are the ethics of each alternative? 4. Which alternative would you recommend to Betty and why?