Pomegranate Puffery

Are the producers of this pomegranate juice making deceptive claims? Or are they simply launching a cleverly worded advertising campaign?

The Washington Post's David Brown writes:

What exactly does it mean when a bottle of fruit juice wearing a cape declares, "I'm off to save prostates!"? What are we to think when we see the same bottle with a hangman's noose cut from its neck and are told it can "cheat death"?

. . . " 'Cheat death' is simply the use of puffery, tongue in cheek. It's a voice that is frankly designed to cut through the clutter," Matt Tupper, president of Los Angeles-based Pom Wonderful, said recently.

But puffery aside, please do believe that pomegranate juice has all sorts of benefits in preventing -- or is it treating? -- conditions as disparate as coronary heart disease, impotence, diabetes and prostate cancer. That seems to be the main message of the company's advertising campaign in the Washington Metro and other high-profile venues around the region.

The rest of the article is here.