Question 1

Can you name a competitor in your advertising?

Accepted Answer

Yes — **comparative advertising is lawful** in the UK and EU, and it is deliberately permitted because comparison helps consumers. But it is permitted **only on strict conditions**, and failing any one of them turns a comparison into both an advertising breach and potential trade mark infringement.

**The conditions a comparison must satisfy:**

**It must not be misleading**, in any respect.

**It must compare goods meeting the same needs or intended for the same purpose** — comparing unlike things is not permitted.

**It must compare material, relevant, verifiable and representative features.** "Verifiable" is the one that catches advertisers: the claim must be **capable of being checked**, which means the basis of comparison has to be substantiated and available.

**It must not create confusion** between you and the competitor.

**It must not discredit or denigrate** the competitor's marks, goods or activities. Robust comparison is fine; disparagement is not.

**It must not take unfair advantage** of the competitor's reputation.

**It must not present goods as imitations or replicas** of a protected brand.

**Price comparisons** must be genuine like-for-like, current, and clear about what is included.

**On trade marks.** Using a competitor's name is permitted **within** these conditions — this is the honest-use position. Step outside them and the protection falls away, exposing you to infringement claims, which is why the conditions matter commercially and not only for compliance.

**What this means in practice:**

**Document everything before publishing.** The evidence must exist at the time the claim is made, not be assembled after a challenge.

**Date-stamp price comparisons** and state the basis.

**Beware "the UK's best"** and similar superlatives — these are objective claims requiring proof, not opinion.

**Competitors complain**, and they are the most motivated complainants there are.

**Brand bidding on a competitor's name** in paid search is a related but separate question, governed by platform policy and trade mark law.

General information, not legal advice.

Question 2

How do you name a product or company?

Accepted Answer

By treating it as a constraint satisfaction problem rather than a creative one — the shortlist is produced by ideas, and the winner is determined by what survives legal, linguistic and practical

Question 3

What is brand safety, and how is it managed?

Accepted Answer

Preventing advertisements appearing alongside content that would damage the brand — and the discipline has matured from crude keyword blocking into something considerably more careful, partly because

Question 4

Does social proof actually work in marketing?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is among the better-evidenced principles in the field — with important conditions on which social proof works and when it backfires. The underlying psychology. Robert Cialdini's work

Question 5

What rules actually govern advertising, and what does the ASA do?

Accepted Answer

Advertising in the UK sits under a co-regulatory system: industry-written codes enforced by a self-regulatory body, backed by statutory regulators who can act where self-regulation fails.

Question 6

What is user-generated content, and what are the rules for using it?

Accepted Answer

Content made by customers rather than the brand — reviews, photos, videos, posts — and it is highly effective precisely because it is not advertising, which is also why the legal position is more

Question 7

What is a value proposition?

Accepted Answer

A value proposition is a clear statement of what you offer, who it is for, and why it is better than the alternatives — including the alternative of doing nothing. The three components it must

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