Exploring Variations of Hyperbole and Puffery in Advertising

This research explored whether hyperbole and puffery ads at two levels of intensity produced differential effects in contrast to nonexaggerated ads. An experiment had 597 subjects rate 1 of 20 ads on ad liking, product quality, deception, product-name recall, and buying intention. Hyperbole ads yielded the highest ad liking, perceived general product quality, and buying intention, along with the highest ratings of perceived deception, in contrast to puffery and control ads. Puffery did not distinguish itself from control ads, having little to no functional effect on common advertising outcome measures. Therefore, hyperbole may offer superior advertising outcomes compared to puffery.