Esme Inc., a manufacturer of cosmetics, ran an ad campaign in which it claimed that Esme's "Vivid" range of water-proof mascara is the best mascara in the world. It also claimed that the mascara gives 10 times more volume to the eyelashes and provides more definition to the eyes than any other mascara brand. This scenario is an illustration of . A) deception. B) superlative advertising. C) unfairness. D) puffery. E) unethical advertising.

The answer is D. Puffery.

Explanation: When an advertisement is being made, certain boastful and exaggerated claims can be made by a company about the superiority and uniqueness of their product.

This claim is termed as Puffery.

Puffery is defined as advertising or promotional content that makes exaggerated or boastful statements about a product or service that are based on opinion rather than something that can be measured.

Puffery in advertising is done based on the chance that no reasonable person would presume the exaggeration to be literally true.

This is what Esme Inc. has done by claiming that its mascara is the best in the world, and also gives ten times more volume to the eyelashes. This is an exaggerated claim.

D) puffery

Explanation:

In advertising, puffery refers to promoting a product or services using broadly exaggerated statements or testimonials.

They are legal because they are based on subjective terms (opinions) and not objective terms (measurable facts). E.g. the statement "most delicious steak in the world" cannot be proven wrong because no one can show that their steak is the most delicious.

When you say some product is the best in the world, in order for it o be considered false advertising, you must promise something that is measurable, e.g. you cannot promise a car has the best mileage per gallon in the world if it doesn't because that can be measured.

Instead eyelash volume or definition is not something that can be measured scientifically, you can notice a change but that it basically an opinion. There is no scientific measure of eyelash volume or definition.

In order for puffery to be legal, it must be so exaggerated that any reasonable person should realize it is not possible or extremely unlikely to be true, at least for everyone.