Domino's Pizza vs. Subway, total advertising warfare
In light of a fast-food consumption slow-down in the US, dwindling customers are being fought over in an all-out advertising war by bitter sandwich makers. In the latest squabble, pizza chain Domino's set fire to a written complaint from sandwich chain Subway on national TV. It's something that would never happen in Europe because of regulations - is comparative advertising necessary?
The latest feud started when Americans stopped eating so many pizzas. In effect, the country's second biggest pizza seller, Domino's, decided to branch out into toasted sandwiches. And then brag about how much better they tasted than Subway's equivalent in a TV advert. The campaign was somewhat confusing, but the message was clear - Domino's toasted sandwiches outdid Subway's two to one in a national taste test. Furious, Subway sent a letter to Domino's asking them to take the ads off air, citing four objections to the methodology behind the ‘test'. Apparently not fazed by the threat, Domino's got their taste test claims reviewed by lawyers and TV networks, and once they received the ok, aired the following during the "American Idol" commercial break...
"I was going to burn the letter, but everything’s better when it’s oven baked…"
"In France we tend to sympathise with the victim while Americans like winners"
Frédéric Chast runs an independent advertising firm in Paris.
This kind of advertising is quite common in the US (like the brilliant PC vs Mac advertising). This one is quite aggressive and involves typically American "themes": making everything public and loud, referring to lawyers and potentially involving the judicial system, taking responsibility in person (Domino's chairman is in the video). You can really see that as a clash of Titans and their golden purses.
In France, our approach is very different. Comparative advertising is very limited and rarely used. We'd rather say ‘we're great' than ‘we're greater than...' It's not fear of committing oneself and asserting things; it's just we don't really have that culture of testing and comparing yet, although with the crisis going on and the ‘pouvoir d'achat' [buying power] being a major theme now, it's less and less true. We tend to compare prices a lot more than we used to, which means comparing brands for example. This is most true for the "grande distribution" (supermarkets like Carrefour, Casino and so on). Plus, we don't really have that culture of ‘big money lawyers', exposure that is common in this kind of advertising. We're more low key than Americans.
There are pros and cons to comparative advertising. If you compare prices, it seems objective, but when you compare quality or much more complex parameters through testing, it is much more suspicious (was the testing really fair and independent?). Plus, there's also a risk that you advertise for the other brand too (negative advertising for a brand is still advertising) In that way you position yourself as the predator against the victim. Maybe that's why it doesn't really work in France. We tend to sympathise with the victim while Americans like winners.
Eventually, this will come to France, like everything that comes from America. We just need more time and boldness. But we will. With our 'French touch'!"
