Mamaearth-parent Honasa Consumer has filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court against FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) over a recent advertisement for the Lakme' sunscreen brand, titled 'SPF Lie Detector Test', which it claims is disparaging and misleading, and unfairly undermines competing brands.
The Lakme advertisement in question had suggested that rival sunscreen products fail to give the adequate SPF protection as claimed. One of the rival products shown in the Lakme' advertisement allegedly resembled the packaging of a Honasa brand product by The Derma Co.
Honasa Consumer co-founder Ghazal Alagh shared a picture of a Derma Co. advertisement on social media, showing, "Hey Lakme, Congratulations on finally getting SPF 50 in-vivo tested. Welcome to the Derma Co. Standard."
"Good competition is always great for any market. It keeps brands from becoming sleepy & brings more innovation for the consumers. Indian FMCG has lacked good competition for a long time, leading to large traditional brands becoming complacent. We take pride in the fact that we have been challenging these norms and waking up these brands time and again," she wrote.
"We did it with Mamaearth in making brands move towards clean label ingredients and now again with The Derma Co., which is showing the way around honest active disclosures & claims based on science. This has led to immense love from consumers, which is an envy of many competitors," she further said.
Ghazal went to take a jibe at Hindustan Unilever, "Happy to see traditional brands following again and even blatantly copying products from name to packaging. We will keep innovating and showing the way," she wrote.
Lakme' Issues Public Statement
Lakme soon issued a public statement, saying that they have been in-vivo testing (ISO-validated testing method) their sunscreen for the past 10 years. "Some brands, currently on online bestseller lists, are claiming to be in-vivo tested; however, their in-market sunscreen product samples deliver SPF 20 against a claim of SPF 50," it said.
What the Delhi High Court Said
After a preliminary hiring on April 16, the Delhi High Court said that the Lakme ad appears to be 'disparaging' and has sought a response from Hindustan Unilever. The court further said that a trader is not entitled to defame his competitor's goods while comparing his goods with them. The matter will next be heard on April 17.
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