Can One Wax Socratic With Spotty 3G Coverage?

Cutthroatiness has apparently reached a new level.

From Subway's Jared to Taco Bell's Christine, from the ability of Kellog's Cocoa Krispies to improve children's immune systems to Frosted Mini Wheat's to "improve" their attention span, borderline false claims in advertisements have recently reached a new high (or would that be low?).

I totally get it. If something can be statistically proved, and we know how to say it in a sufficiently misleading- but not untrue- manner to plug our own brand, then why wouldn't we? Especially (and I hate to bring this up again, but alas, such is the century we live in) with the lower levels of consumer spending we've been seeing the last few years, and especially when we have competing brands that are similar in every way to our own.

But what I have to ask is this: Is there a point where the competition becomes so overwhelming that we can realistically justify stepping outside the bounds of ethics? And if so, have we reached that point?

Now, I'm not saying that Powerade's claim to be the "complete" sports drink was false, but the fact that Gatorade brought that claim to court and disputed it seems to me to be a bit, well...overkill.

According to the article in Forbes, last year a record 85 companies brought legal disputes against other companies for claims made in their advertisements- up from 63 cases in 2007. Yes, we should pursue it when companies make claims that really aren't true, but when we want to probe the meaning of "complete" as it applies to a sports drink? Oy.

It's fun to watch companies battle it out over the small screen. The recent AT&T vs. Verizon battle has everyone watching both companies' commercials to see which insult will be dished out next. Until now, I had never heard an audience say, "oooooh, ouch, he got you man" when someone accused someone else of having spotty 3G coverage.

But while we duke it out, let's try to keep in mind the ethical principles that are so important to consumers' trust in our industry. Because if we're taking each other to court over our own false claims, then what reason do they have to believe us when we say anything?