What Do We Know About Illegal Comparative Advertising? An Empirical Analysis of Italian Antitrust Proceedings Between 2000 and 2020

Comparative advertising is widespread, but empirical studies on the theme are scarce. In addition, the previous literature has partially neglected illegal comparative advertising. This paper partially fills this gap and studies the legal proceedings of the Italian antitrust authority completed between 2000 and 2020 for alleged illicit comparative advertising. The data show that most of the complaints come from advertisers’ competitors, target small and medium-sized advertisers, and regard the advertisements of final goods and services. Contested advertisements tend to appear more frequently in written form and in national media. Lastly, the probability of violation increases if the comparison is explicit, that is, it identifies products, brands or corporate names. These results tend to confirm the main hypotheses, provide a basis for increasing the efficiency of the competent authorities, and can be used to improve firms’ comparative advertising campaigns.