An Interpretation of the Attitudinal and Behavioral Effects of Puffery

Abstract

Although the FTC has increased its activity in the monitoring of deceptive advertising, the law nonetheless continues to recognize most puffery as harmless and permits a firm to argue that a claim is puffery in defense against a charge of fraud or misrepresentation. This paper is designed to explore the view that puffery may be equivalent in impact to literal deception. A review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature in the areas of expectation creation, attitude formation, and disconfirmation is presented which suggests that puffery achieves its intended impact through a combination of preexposure and postpurchase effects. Specifically, it is argued that puffed claims create high expectations used in attitude and intention formation prior to purchase. The nature of these claims is such that many cannot be disconfirmed after purchase while others are repressed due to the consumer's reluctance to acknowledge discrepancy. Moreover, the initial inflated attitude serves to bolster the postpurchase attitude when the consumer is exposed to and recognizes a negative disconfirmation. Implications of this interpretation for the marketing and legal communities are discussed.