DISH Network Advertising Hits a Raw Nerve with DirecTV
It’s probably not the first time rival companies have wound up in court due to a dispute over advertising, but if it has indeed happened before, it does not stand out in my memory.
Satellite TV broadcaster DISH Network started an advertising campaign not too long ago that their rivals at DirecTV are not too happy about. The campaign centers around the slogan “Why Pay More?” and suggests that DISH Network offers the same programming package that DirecTV does, but for less money. DISH Network deals, according to the advertisements, are a better value. DirecTV, as you may suspect, does not agree.
Consumers are quite accustomed to companies making claims regarding the superiority of their own products or services, or the inferiority of their competitor’s offerings. How long have Coke and Pepsi been at it? I think it is a period of time that can be safely measured in decades. All types of tactics have been employed to demonstrate that Pepsi is better than Coke or vice versa. There have been “taste tests,” celebrities shown consuming the product, and the always-popular tug-at-the-heartstrings approach, in this case, featuring the entire world singing the praises of flavored water with sweetener.
Although most advertising through the years seems to have shied away from mentioning competitors by name for the most part, advertising – like everything else – does evolve. It’s become more fashionable to call out your competition these days, and even come right out and state that your product or service is simply better. It’s this kind of advertising that ruffled feathers sufficiently at DirecTV, and resulted in a lawsuit fired at DISH Network, which sought a cease-and-desist order. DirecTV had hoped to shut down DISH Network’s advertising campaign, claiming that it was “false advertising.”
Unfortunately for DirecTV, a federal judge did not agree, and refused to issue the order. The judge essentially instructed DirecTV to come up with a better case if they wished to press the issue further.
Whether or not DirecTV loses their appetite for litigation or DISH Network loses theirs for aggressive advertising remains to be seen.
