Marketing

01 Jun 2008

I am in the clothing business. I want to market/advertise a particular Italian brand focusing on its Italian stylishness (since Italy is well known for its luxury fashion brands) by perhaps differentiating it from cheap clothing imported from, for example China. Would this be a problem?

Promoting a brand name based on its country or a continent is acceptable and is widely used in advertisements. People would be familiar with particular products that are promoted based on their “European style” or origin where the advertisers aim to gain from certain stereotypes in terms of quality, perception and even prestige. However, there are a number of issues to consider in referring to other countries or making a comparison in the advertisement.

In Australia, a clothing company printed an advertisement headed "Why you should never buy a shirt tailored by a Bulgarian". The advertisement attributed a Frenchman's superior garment making skills to his small hands and compared them with Bulgarians (who supposedly have fingers like large salamis). 

There is no doubt that the advertisement was meant to be funny. Even so, the Australian Board upheld the complaint for this advertisement finding that it portrayed people in a way that discriminated against a section of the community on account of nationality. It did not matter whether the French were actually better at making shirts than Bulgarians or not. Also, the exaggerated nature of the advertisement which would have made it clear to a reasonable reader that the stories were fictional was not a good enough excuse. This is because any reference to race, ethnic or national origin or culture is quite a sensitive matter. While humour, accuracy in the statements and overall context may be taken into account, the threshold of being non-offensive is quite high. 

This is particularly so in New Zealand. The Advertising Standard Authority's (ASA) Code for People in Advertising imposes restrictions on portraying people in a manner which is likely to cause serious or widespread offence on the grounds of their gender, race, colour, ethnic or national origin to name a few. Also, while stereotypes may be used, they cannot be used to portray the role, character and behaviour of groups of people in society which again is reasonably likely to cause serious or widespread offence, hostility, contempt, abuse or ridicule. 

In a recent television advertisement, a series of Black athletes featured for a sports wear brand. Athlete testimonials were used to portray how African Americans have the advantage in the physicality of sport tracing it to their ancestry. It also made comments of how they were built more muscular and stronger. Complaints about this advertisement were not upheld in Australia but were upheld in New Zealand. This was because, while the advertisement showed sportsmen to be celebrating their heritage and engaging in self-promotion, the using of racial group or stereotype and provocative statements to sell a product itself was considered inappropriate and to have caused serious and widespread offence.

Making reference to a particular country (ie. China) may offend someone or a particular group of people. Humorous and satirical treatment of people and groups of people is acceptable and these sometimes help to get the message through without offending. However, examples show that humour does not always work effectively as an antidote. Also, even though emphasising the "Italian" brand in a positive way is acceptable, reference to a racial group or stereotype that denigrates that group to sell a product should be avoided. 

If you intended to compare your products with a competitor's product, you must also ensure that the advertisement does not unfairly attack or discredit those other products. The ASA has a Code for Comparative Advertising which provides that any comparison should be factual and informative. It must be explicitly or by implication made clear what comparison is being made and that it is not misleading. Also, competition should be fairly and properly identified but never in a manner or tone or voice that degrades the competitive product or service. 

One last consideration worth mentioning is the requirements under the Fair Trading Act 1986 not to mislead the consumers. If the clothing is advertised as Italian but was in fact made elsewhere, it cannot be advertised in a manner to mislead people into thinking the clothes were made in Italy.

Author

Peter Stubbs

Partner - Corporate & Commercial

DDI: +64 9 977 5010

Mobile: +64 21 955 230

Email:

View Profile