Puffery

In pre-contractual representations, puffery refers to expansive statements made about the product or service by the supplier that are not intended to be taken literally. Puffery often involves sales staff making subjective claims, rather than objective statements, in order to promote their products or services. For example, if a manufacturer of photocopier paper described their paper as ‘whiter than white’, it would be a subjective statement that no reasonable person would rely upon to make a sourcing decision. However, if the same salesperson stated that the paper contained ‘100% recycled materials’ and the buyer relied upon that statement to award the contract, only to subsequently learn that the claim was false, then this would not be mere puffery. In this case, the representation might be a fraudulent misrepresentation, unless the salesperson genuinely believed the statement, in which case it might be an innocent misrepresentation. See also Misrepresentation.