The use of puffery in advertising in Singapore : a content analysis of television advertisements.

• Main Authors: Lee, Shu Mian., Ng, Helen Pei Cheng.
• Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::TV
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/14781
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Puffery is a legal advertising practice that has yet been identified as a problem in Singapore (see Appendix A for letters to and from Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore ASAS). Consumers are assumed to be rational enough to disbelieve puffery. However, research in the United States (US) showed that puffery has the potential to mislead consumers. Still, puffery is used in advertising due to the difficulty in regulating puffed claims. Puffery was expected to be prevalent in local advertising because it is allowed by ASAS. If puffery is prevalent, there is a higher chance for consumers to be exposcd and deceived by it. However, as there is an apparent lack of studies on puffery in advertising Singapore, this content analysis investigated the prevalence and the use of puffery in television advertisements. The results showed that puffery was not only highly prevalent but was also used regardless of product category, language, or target audience of television advertisements. This ubiquitous use of puffery indicates that it is important to study puffery’s influence and effects on consumers in future research.