A comparative claim needs a defined comparison

Read the whole comparison a visitor sees

Copy the exact claim and its location, including the heading, image text, badge, or linked explanation that gives it meaning. Identify whether the wording compares a product, a product range, a service, or the business as a whole. A metric in a supporting paragraph may be narrow while the headline presents an overall ranking.

Words such as better, more, and leading leave a practical question: better on which dimension, more than what, or leading within which group? If the business cannot answer from its evidence, record the missing comparison instead of supplying one from memory. This worksheet helps expose that gap; it does not classify a phrase as legally permissible opinion or as an unlawful claim.

Define a metric that the evidence actually measures

Write the measure, unit, comparison basis, and relevant conditions from the underlying records. Then identify the exact items or organizations compared and the dates represented. Keep a comparison with an earlier version of your own operation distinct from a comparison with competitors. Evidence about a change inside the business cannot establish a market position on its own.

Ask whether the records cover both sides on a comparable basis. Different periods, product scopes, or measurement definitions can prevent a meaningful ranking even when each individual record is accurate. State those differences explicitly. Do not combine unlike measurements into a new score or present a selected subset as the entire market.

A reader should be able to tell what a supported comparison leaves out. A finding about one measured characteristic does not establish overall quality, suitability, safety, or a result outside that measure. On a research-only storefront, do not extend a bounded product record into a claim about human use.

Separate the evidence date from the claim’s present tense

Record when the underlying observations were made and when your team reviewed them. Those are different dates. Reviewing an old file today does not make its comparison set current. If the claim speaks about the business’s present position, ask what evidence establishes that the compared products, conditions, or competitors still match the statement.

The FTC’s truth-in-advertising guidance says advertising must be truthful, nonmisleading, and supported by appropriate evidence across media, including websites. Applying that general principle here, this worksheet asks you to trace the comparative statement to its actual basis. The FTC page does not prescribe this worksheet, set a universal expiration period for comparisons, or approve any specific wording.

Choose a correction with a traceable reason

Keep a comparative statement only within the scope the evidence can support, with enough explanation for the reader to understand that scope. Where records support only a noncomparative fact, publish that fact without adding superiority. If the evidence is absent, conflicting, or too narrow for the claim, remove the unsupported comparison while the gap is resolved. A missing basis cannot be repaired by replacing one vague superlative with another.

Record the corrected wording, the person responsible, and the locations where the same statement appears. Check the claim in its heading and surrounding content after the change so a broad badge does not continue to assert what the paragraph no longer says. Keep the evidence reference and the reason for the decision with the business’s records.

For a Prism website-review consultation, bring the public URLs, the exact comparison, and a summary of the evidence gap. The related website-review service sets the consultation context; scope and any reporting are agreed before work. Questions about legal sufficiency need qualified counsel, and a clearer comparison does not establish provider eligibility.

Comparative-claim record

Use one copy for each distinct comparison. Fill it from the live claim and real supporting records. An undefined metric or comparison set means the superiority assertion is unresolved, even if a document supports a narrower fact.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.