ADVERTISING: Naming Names

Standing behind a box of S.O.S. soap pads and a box of Brillo pads, the announcer looks out from the television screen and soberly, sincerely, begins his pitch: "There's been a lot of confusion lately over which of these steel-wool soap pads actually has the longest lasting soap. S.O.S. says 'longest lasting,' and Brillo says 'now lasts longest.' Obviously somebody has to be wrong, and somebody is." The announcer removes the Brillo box from sight and concludes: "The facts reveal that only S.O.S. can make this claim."

Not long ago, such head-to-head comparisons in TV commercials would have contravened advertising's most venerable taboo: never openly knock a competitor's product. Indeed, ads that named a rival product were long banned at the American Broadcasting Co. and the Columbia Broadcasting System. The National Broadcasting Co. permitted the practice in recent years, but few advertisers dared use it. Admen who wanted to tout their clients' goods in a comparative way referred to the competition in tippy-toe "Brand X" allusions. Then in March, the Federal Trade Commission, as part of its drive to improve advertising practices, prodded ABC and CBS to allow commercials that named rival brands.

Sticks and Stomachs. Since then a procession of commercials boosting one product at the expense of another have bobbed up on the home screen. Promotions for Gulf Oil's Totem brand sandwich bags contend that they hold more than Union Carbide's Glad bags and Colgate-Palmolive's Baggies. Bisodol commercials trumpet its stomach-soothing effectiveness over Turns and Rolaids. A Beech-Nut gum ad stresses that each pack contains eight sticks and displays a Wrigley pack, which has only seven. A plug for a Volkswagen Type III sedan insists that it has just as much in its compact as Maverick, Toyota or Datsun. The idea is infectious. Lincoln Continental commercials refer only to "that other American luxury car," but the ad agency, Kenyon & Eckhardt, is studying the possibility of naming Cadillac. Says K. & E. Chairman Stanley Tannenbaum of name naming: "If that's consumerism, I love it."

Though name naming could lead to wild and confusing name calling, it might weaken the campaign for "counter-advertising," which is a nightmare for agency chiefs. Counter-advertising, pushed by consumerists and backed by the FTC, would allow special-interest groups to broadcast commercials pointing out what they believe are the dangers or flaws of a particular product or industry. For example, Ralph Nader's forces might lambaste an auto company for alleged safety faults. But if advertisers are willing to call attention to the shortcomings of specifically named competitors' products—and risk retaliation—the drive for counter advertising might well lose momentum.