Saturday, February 27, 2016

Pix - the comparative non-comparative ad

Image source here
Comparative advertising is not allowed in Lebanon. Which is why there are vague slogans such as "master ta3mo atyab" (master tastes better - implicitly "better than competing brand X"). Usually advertisers respect that part of the law, knowing that if one trespasses it, the other brands it represent become an easy target. So it is a bit of gentlemen's agreement in between ad agencies (when the law came out Brinol compared to what was obviously Persil in the background and all fury broke loose, also, there was a Nokia ad which referenced Blackberry by name as well, and a Dunkin Donuts compared to Starbucks but these were rare exception, if one does not count Halloween impersonations by Shawarmanji). All of this is to explain how the new Pix ads are directly towards Hall's but are not comparative ads. You see, for 250 Liras you can buy a Pix, whereas Hall's costs the double at 500 LBP. Bottom line, you can get 2 Pix for the price of a Hall's "two is better and more cost-efficient than one" (and in a smaller font "others are for 500 LBP".
The competing brand is not mentioned, is showed in a very diluted way, you'd know what it is without even seeing its logo, but technically, there is no harm done as the logo is not exposed in the ad.
So I guess this is a convoluted road to make a comparative statement all while being non-comparative;...