puffery
noun

- the act of praising someone or something too much in a way that is not sincere

- exaggerated commendation, especially for promotional purposes

Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN

The term “puffery” comes from the verb “puff”, which originally referred to blowing air or smoke. Over time, "puff" evolved to mean exaggerating or inflating something, particularly in a figurative sense, such as overly praising or promoting an idea, product, or person.

The word "puff" was used in Middle English (around the 14th century) to describe the act of blowing air. By the 17th century, it had taken on the metaphorical meaning of exaggerated praise or flattery, especially in the context of advertising or marketing.

"Puffery" became established in legal and commercial language in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, referring specifically to promotional statements that are subjective and not meant to be taken literally. These statements are often considered legally acceptable, as they are understood to be opinions rather than factual claims.

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130 YEARS OF ADVERTISING PUFFERY

- “King of Beers" =  Beer (Budweiser, 1879)

- “Breakfast of Champions" =  Cereal (Wheaties, 1935)

- “Betcha Can't Eat Just One" = Potato chips (Lay’s, 1963)

- “Tastes So Good, Cats Ask for It By Name" = Cat food (Meow Mix, 1970s)

- “Because You're Worth It" = Cosmetics (L'Oréal, 1971)

- "Made from the Best Stuff on Earth" = Beverages (Snapple, 1980s)

- “Gives You Wings" = Energy drink (Red Bull, 1987)

- "The Best a Man Can Get" = Razors (Gillette, 1989)

- “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like"  = Deodorant/body wash (Old Spice, 2010)

- “Our Blades Are F***ing Great" = Razors (Dollar Shave Club, 2012)

- "It's like milk, but made for humans" = Oat milk (Oatley, 2018)

- "Murder Your Thirst" = Bottled water (Liquid Death, 2019)

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SYNONYMS

adulation, advertising fluff, aggrandizement, apple-polishing, ballyhoo, big talk, blarney, blather, blowing smoke, blurb, bluster, boast, boasting, bombast, boosterism, brag, braggadocio, bragging, buildup, bull, bunk, bunkum, buttering up, chest-thumping, claptrap, empty boasting (talk), exaggeration, eyewash, fanfare, fawning, flapdoodle, flattery, flim-flam, flimflam, fluff, flummery, froth, fulsomeness, gas, gassing, grandiloquence, grandstanding, halo polishing, hard sell, highfalutin talk, hogwash, hokum, hot air, humbug, hype, hyperbole, inflated claims (praise), laying it on thick, magnification, malarkey, marketing spin, overpraise, overstatement, palaver, plug, poppycock, promotional exaggeration (excess), propaganda, publicity, puff, PUFFERY, pushing, razzle-dazzle, razzmatazz, rhetoric, rigmarole, sales pitch, salesmanship, schmoozing, self-aggrandizement (-promotion), sensationalism, showboating, smoke and mirrors, smoke blowing, soft soap, song and dance, spiel, stroking, sweet talk, sycophancy, tall tale (talk), tommyrot, tooting one's own horn, trumpery, trumpeting, twaddle, undue praise, vainglory, vapouring, wind, window dressing

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“Have you noticed how political campaigns always mix promises with PUFFERY?”

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