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Conair refuses to participate in review of an oft-used
tagline
Everybody's All-American
When Lee Rizzuto passed on in 2017, he was the kind of success
story that's overlooked in the age of Facebook, Google and
Amazon.
Rizzuto was the founder of Conair, which he started with his
parents in their Queens garage in 1959. The company is now
ubiquitous, with a presence in 125 countries and product lines
including Cuisinart and Waring. Rizzuto never gave up control of
his company, remaining the chair of Conair's board until he
passed. He was worth $3.5 billion.
Titans
With a well-recognized brand name in use for almost 50 years,
brand Cuisinart is a household name, a fact that Conair is not
ashamed of exploiting. A recent marketing campaign by the parent
company declared Cuisinart "The Most Trusted Name in the
Kitchen." According to the National Advertising
Division, Conair was splashing that tag all over the Cuisinart
line − food processors, blenders, coffee makers, toasters,
electric kettles, black stainless cookware, the works.
Whirlpool, another iconic company and holder of the KitchenAid
product line, bridled at the tag and contacted Conair to get
substantiation. According to NAD, Conair responded by claiming that
the tag line was puffery, and that, moreover, the line had been
trademarked and therefore would not be subject to reproof.
The Takeaway
Whirlpool took the claim to NAD, noting that trademarks do not
protect substantive claims, and that Conair could not furnish
support for its claim.
Conair's response? The company refused to cooperate with the
NAD review process. It claimed that it had been using the tag for
three years and that since NAD did not allow companies under review
to defend themselves by asserting that challenges were
"unreasonably delayed," it would not participate.
Predictably, NAD referred the matter to the Federal Trade
Commission.
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