Enhancing the detection of misleading comparative advertising

Marketing academics have a long history of providing guidance to those conc erned with assessing an ad's ability to mislead consumers. However, few rec ommendations have been offered regarding the specific measures to be employ ed in copy tests that examine the misleading effects associated with compar ative advertisements. This issue is important, given that determining wheth er an advertisement misleads consumers ultimately rests on the sensitivity of the measures used in copy testing. The authors offer the framing corresp ondence hypothesis as a guide to developing measures that provide a precise assessment of the misleading effects that may arise from various types of comparative advertising.