How come sometimes commercials can use a competitor's name and sometimes they cant?

Question

sometimes for example Lysol will say "its better than Clorox" but sometimes they'll say "it's better than the leading competitor" and will show a bottle that looks just like clorox. is there some kind of laws or something?

Answer 1

Hi,

I have a lot of experience marketing small companies online (I have 3 companies).  One of the best ways is to sign up at business directories and protals.  These are basically listings of businesses (simliar to the phone book).  The advantage is that these portals usually get a lot of traffic and they're ranked high on Google because of all the quality links they contain.

My favorite portal is called Directory Exclusive.  I signed up a few weeks ago because they're giving a away a free business card holder when a person enter's their company info.  I received it in the mail 3 days ago =)

I don't know if they still have that promotion, but you can try to get the free card holder here:

http://www.exclusive-directory-listings....

Good Luck

Answer 2

http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room/roo...

Answer 3

It comes down to what the exact claim is, and whether that claim would be defendable in court if the named competitor were to sue.  AND what the legal team for the company doing the advertisement (Lysol, in your example) says.  :o)