Comparative Advertising: History, Theory, and Practice

From auto insurance to ready-to-eat soups and satellite TV services, both national and local advertisers in the United States—and increasingly around the world—invest a great deal of time and money on ads and campaigns in which they directly identify their competitors or refer indirectly to “the other guys.” Yet business decision-makers and advertising creative professionals have long believed that creating successful comparative advertising can be extraordinarily difficult. Many have disco...