When Puffery Gets Sticky

Howies Hockey advertises that it makes the ​“World’s Highest Quality” athletic tape and hockey tape. Mueller Sports Medicine challenged the claim before NAD, arguing that it conveyed ​“a misleading and unqualified superiority message” that Howies’ products are higher quality than competing products. Howies countered that the slogan was just puffery.

As we discussed in our recent post on puffery, whether a claim is puffery often depends on context. This case provides a good example.

When the ​“World’s Highest Quality” claim appeared on packages and point-of-sale displays without references to specific product attributes or competitors, NAD concluded that consumers were unlikely to interpret the claim as ​“conveying an objective message that Howies’ products are superior to competing products.” In that context, the claim was puffery.