Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional statements and claims that express subjective rather than objective views, such that no reasonable person would take literally. Puffery is especially featured in testimonials.

Examples

For instance, a diner advertisement promoting the “world’s best cup of coffee” would classify as puffery. That claim would be almost impossible to substantiate, and no reasonable consumer would take such exaggeration at face value. Puffery often uses the superlative form of a word, like “best” or “greatest”.

Puffery might also exaggerate the advertised effects of a product. An example is the following Burma-Shave jingle:

We've made / Grandpa / Look so trim / The local / Draft board's after him / Burma-Shave

Where substantiation is needed

However, a company making a superlative claim such as “cheapest” or “safest” usually has to substantiate such competitive claims. Merchants must exercise extreme caution when making statements about the quality, condition, or facts about their products or services. A slight variation in wording may result in an express warranty.

Federal Trade Commission definition

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defined puffery as a “term frequently used to denote the exaggerations reasonably to be expected of a seller as to the degree of quality of his product, the truth or falsity of which cannot be precisely determined.”

The FTC stated in 1984 that puffery does not warrant enforcement action by the Commission. In its FTC Policy Statement on Deception, the Commission stated: "The Commission generally will not pursue cases involving obviously exaggerated or puffing representations, i.e., those that the ordinary consumers do not take seriously."

Puff piece

Puff piece is an idiom for a journalistic form of puffery; an article or story of exaggerating praise that often ignores or downplays opposing viewpoints or evidence to the contrary.

See also

• Boosterism
• Menu prose

References