Advertising In brief Southern Africa

The trouble with toothpaste

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of South Africa recently upheld a competitor complaint lodged by GlaxoSmithKline against Colgate toothpaste. The ASA found that Colgate's advertising did not sufficiently clarify that its "2x Better Cavity Protection" is only when compared to non-fluoride toothpaste. In an environment where most of Colgate's competitors contain fluoride, this claim may be misleading. Also, the disclaimer's font size was significantly less than that of the initial claim, nor did the disclaimer appear long enough for people to read easily.

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