A comparative advertisement can have an active merchandising effect for one entity but at the same time can create negative consumers' opinions in respect of its competitors. Thus, regulation of comparative advertising should be strict and understandable for every player in the market.
The Act of Ukraine On Advertising and the Act On Unfair Competition regulate this subject. From these Acts it can be concluded that (1) comparative advertising in Ukraine is forbidden; (2) an advertisement is not regarded as comparative if the information indicated therein may be confirmed by factual data and is reliable. But such approach leaves a number of questions open as advertisers contrive new ways of creating catchy ads.
"Advertisements do not usually point out a certain competitor, but a group of possible competitors in the market, for example "the quickest delivery, the best chef". Such indirect pointing to competitors in the same niche of the market may be regarded as a comparative advertisement.
Qualitative adjectives in the superlative in advertisements are used to show that qualitative features of one object are increasingly better than others of the same kind, for example "the sweetest, the most beautiful". Thus, using qualitative adjectives in the superlative is one way that may be claimed to be a comparison in adverts.
Another method of comparison which is not indicated as such in the Ukrainian legislation and at the same time is widely used in ads is the use of ordinals, such as "Number 1 in the country, the front-runner".
It should be highlighted that none of the above ways of comparing is strictly defined as a comparative advertisement by the Ukrainian legislation. Such cases are mostly a subject of proof either by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine or in court. However, recent practice shows that such issues should be dealt with, possibly on an evidential basis.
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| Michael Doubinsky (pictured) and Eugenia Paladiy |
