Sometimes there are no unique positions to carve out. In such cases, Ries and Trout suggest repositioning a competitor by convincing consumers to view the competitor in a different way. Tylenol successfully repositioned aspirin by running advertisements explaining the negative side effects of aspirin.
Consumers tend to perceive the origin of a product by its name rather than reading the label to find out where 
When Pringle’s new-fangled potato chips were introduced, they quickly gained market share. However, Wise potato chips successfully repositioned Pringle’s in the mind of consumers by listing some of Pringle’s non-natural ingredients that sounded like harsh chemicals, even though they were not. Wise potato chips of course, contained only “Potatoes. Vegetable oil. Salt.” As a resulting of this advertising, Pringle’s quickly lost market share, with consumers complaining that Pringle’s tasted like cardboard, most likely as a consequence of their thinking about all those unnatural ingredients. Ries and Trout argue that is usually is a lost cause to try to bring a brand back into favor once it has gained a bad image, and that in such situations it is better to introduce an entirely new brand.
Repositioning a competitor is different from comparative advertising. Comparative advertising seeks to convince the consumer that one brand is simply better than another. Consumers are not likely to be receptive to such a tactic.
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