This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
YKTTW...
In a commercial the product is claimed to be "10% spiffier" but they do not mention what it is spiffier then. It could mean:
- "10% spiffier than the competitor"
- "10% spiffier than last year's version"
- "10% spiffier than the national average"
- "10% spiffier on the inside than it is on the outside"
- "10% spiffier than federal safety standards allow"
I propose it be called either "dangling comparison" or "10% spiffier..." DysgraphicProgrammer
Looney Toons: Don't forget "10% spiffier than using nothing at all". Yeah, this belongs on Commercials Tropes. Dangling Comparison sounds good, as does Unqualified Compare, or maybe Random Percentages.
Robert: The usual name is Absolute Comparative. It doesn't just apply to percentages - 'Our powder washes whiter' is a common example. Whiter than what?
I think battery commercials might be the worst offenders, at least here in the UK - every commercial praises their brand's long life compared to the 'competing batteries' - but never stateing that the batteries they compare to are always the cheapest of the cheapest zinc-carbons, a battery technology so pathetic in it's capacity some stores will no longer carry them.
