Should the competing brand be illustrated in a comparative advertisement?

Recent studies on comparative advertising have focused on the relative effectiveness of comparative ads versus noncomparative or Brand X ads. This laboratory experiment used 408 student subjects to assess the believability and interestingness of various comparative advertising formats when the competing brand is illustrated versus when it is not illustrated. The findings revealed no significant differences in subjects' ratings of the believability or interestingness of the advertisements illustrating the competing brand compared to similar advertisements that did not illustrate the competing brand. Creative Sales Careers, Inc.