diff --git a/org.springframework.context/src/main/java/org/springframework/format/datetime/joda/DateTimeFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory.java b/org.springframework.context/src/main/java/org/springframework/format/datetime/joda/DateTimeFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory.java
index 89e7bb08baf..8872b8d1ca0 100644
--- a/org.springframework.context/src/main/java/org/springframework/format/datetime/joda/DateTimeFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory.java
+++ b/org.springframework.context/src/main/java/org/springframework/format/datetime/joda/DateTimeFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import org.springframework.format.Parser;
 import org.springframework.format.Printer;
 import org.springframework.format.annotation.DateTimeFormat;
 import org.springframework.format.annotation.DateTimeFormat.ISO;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * Formats fields annotated with the {@link DateTimeFormat} annotation.
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ public final class DateTimeFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory implements Annotatio
 	}
 
 	private DateTimeFormatter configureDateTimeFormatterFrom(DateTimeFormat annotation) {
-		if (!annotation.pattern().isEmpty()) {
+		if (StringUtils.hasLength(annotation.pattern())) {
 			return forPattern(annotation.pattern());
 		}
 		else if (annotation.iso() != ISO.NONE) {
diff --git a/org.springframework.context/src/main/java/org/springframework/format/number/NumberFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory.java b/org.springframework.context/src/main/java/org/springframework/format/number/NumberFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory.java
index c5baf995b12..09da26668b6 100644
--- a/org.springframework.context/src/main/java/org/springframework/format/number/NumberFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory.java
+++ b/org.springframework.context/src/main/java/org/springframework/format/number/NumberFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import org.springframework.format.Parser;
 import org.springframework.format.Printer;
 import org.springframework.format.annotation.NumberFormat;
 import org.springframework.format.annotation.NumberFormat.Style;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * Formats fields annotated with the {@link NumberFormat} annotation.
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ public final class NumberFormatAnnotationFormatterFactory implements AnnotationF
 	}
 
 	private Formatter<Number> configureFormatterFrom(NumberFormat annotation, Class<?> fieldType) {
-		if (!annotation.pattern().isEmpty()) {
+		if (StringUtils.hasLength(annotation.pattern())) {
 			return new NumberFormatter(annotation.pattern());
 		}
 		else {