Papa John’s Slogan is a Prime Example of Puffery Being Used to Enhance Marketing Success-But is it Ethical?

“Better Ingredients, Better Pizza”

Who’s to say Papa John’s does not have better pizza or use better ingredients?  And in comparison to what?  Although it is common belief that a pizza chain such as Papa John’s may not have the premiere pizza of the world, nobody can factually prove they do not.  For all we know, the creators of this chain may have true conviction in their statements about their pizza being “better” than the rest.

Puffery in Advertisements

Puffery if an exaggerated claim that is not technically misleading because it is opinionated rather than falsified.  This has become a widely popular method of marketing.  It is not likely someone will get into legal trouble for claiming something is the better than others because that is their opinion, they are not lying to the general public.  It is the public’s job to weed out what they believe may be right and what is just a strategy to bring in customers.  Claiming to make the “greatest coffee in the universe” may seem far fetched, but not technically wrong.  This is merely an opinion, which is what makes the strategy known as puffery perfectly legal.

Those who use puffery as an advertising plan hope to yield results similar to what was demonstrated by Will Ferrell in the movie Elf, as seen below.  When Buddy stumbled upon a cafe in New York City that displayed a generic “World’s Best Cup of Coffee” sign in the window, his naivety and lack of real world communication caused him to believe they actually had the world’s best cup of coffee as a matter of fact.  The reason we do not fall victim to every single sign that claims to be the best is because we have been desensitized to such ads.  It has become a struggle to find any advertising method to truly captivate an audience because we are so accustomed to seeing marketing in action everywhere we go.

Puffery Controversy

When faced with an advertisement stating something is better or the best, it is the consumers job to take those statements with a grain of salt and decide whether they agree or disagree.  On the contrary, There are many example of advertisements that are similar to puffery but cross the line into lying and deception.  One would be if a pizza company said they were the “fasted delivery service in the country” or something similar if they actually have not always been the fastest deliverers.  In this sense, it it impossible to disprove a “puffed up” claim.  Although many may think puffery is deceptive and wrong, it is in fact not false or wrongfully misleading.

So, Are They Really Better?

Although the creators of Papa John’s may believe their pizza is the best, by way of the best ingredients, what really matters is what the customers think.  So, here is the list of ingredients.  Even though supporting evidence of a puffed claim is not needed to avoid legal or ethical trouble, Papa John’s sure does give great documentation of fresh, hearty ingredients.

Although person to person results may vary, the general consensus is that Papa John’s is among the top three pizza chains in the country, along with Domino’s and Pizza Hut.  One site ranked the Top 10 Pizza Chains, with Papa John’s being number one.  This is of course a subjective views than can be argued but not disproved, but then again, so is puffery.

Why Puffery?

While puffery may seem very effective at first glance, is may be a weakness if viewed in a certain light.  Why would a company use opinion rather than facts?  Most likely because they do not have any facts or numbers worth advertising.  One alternative to making outrageous claims that cannot be proven right or wrong is by giving irrefutable evidence of success or greatness.  One example of this is the Zagat ratings and reviews.  This group has a very prestigious rating system of restaurants around the world.  Opinionated advertisements are much less credible than receiving this type of recognition.

As a seasoned marketing guru it is easy to separate the noise from the real credibility, although not everyone is able to do so.  Advertising agencies pull on certain strings of the naive and amass great success in doing so.  Eventually the general public will become more savvy to what they are being fed and many current practices will be inefficient and therefore obsolete.  How long will puffery be relevant in the marketing world?