Verizon Challenges Yellow Book's Ad Claims

ATLANTA Verizon Directories said it has accused Trahan, Burden & Charles client Yellow Book of false advertising in a suit filed today.

In a statement, Verizon challenged Yellow Book's national broadcast and cable ads that claim more people use its Yellow Pages than the Verizon SuperPages directory.

In a suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Verizon seeks a judgment and court order that would require Yellow Book to retract and correct its false advertising. Verizon also seeks a jury trial to recover damages and court costs.

"Yellow Book's advertising is deceiving business owners," said Lester Chu, vice president of marketing and strategic planning for Verizon Directories. "Advertisers in the Yellow Pages select directories based on results. They should be able to trust directory sales claims."

Chu said that contrary to Yellow Book's promotion, third-party research proves that more consumers are keeping and using Verizon's directories to find the products and services they need.

Yellow Book is shown as having more information than its competitors in the Baltimore agency's humorous ads. The work also shows fictional researchers from "the phone company" repeatedly discovering that consumers prefer Yellow Book to "the other book."

"Our current TV campaign has been running for nearly two years. We reject the assertions in Verizon's public statement and recognize this lawsuit as the type of tactic Verizon is willing to use to protect their eroding base," said a representative from Yellow Book. "Competition is a good thing. With the simple strategy of giving advertisers a better value, Yellow Book USA is experiencing phenomenal success across the country. Perhaps Verizon feels threatened."

The company spends about $10-15 million annually on broadcast and print advertising, per TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, compared with Verizon SuperPages' $40 million. Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners in New York handles Verizon.

Executives at TB&C could not be reached for comment.

This story updates a previously posted item.