Dabur Says Toothpaste Test Of Nationalism Amid Indo-US Tariff Row

Dabur India Ltd., the Indian rival to Colgate-Palmolive, is turning toothpaste into a swadeshi statement. The $11-billion consumer goods company has launched a campaign asking Indians to shun American brands, days after US President Donald Trump slapped tariffs of up to 50% on Indian imports.

The move comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi renewed his call to "buy Indian". Modi on Thursday urged children to list foreign goods and teachers to nudge them away from imported brands.

Dabur's front-page ad in the Times of India took direct aim at Colgate. Without naming it, the ad showed unbranded toothpaste packs resembling Colgate's standard packaging, with the tagline "Born there, not here," written in the colours of the US flag. Dabur positioned itself as the "swadeshi" choice.

Colgate holds a 43% share of India's toothpaste market, followed by Unilever's Pepsodent. Dabur is in third place with 17%, Euromonitor data shows. Both Dabur and Colgate declined to comment.

India, with its 1.4 billion people, is a critical market for US consumer brands — many of them sold via Amazon, which controls nearly a third of India's e-commerce sales. Dabur's ad itself linked buyers to Amazon India via a QR code.

Marketing experts see brands riding the nationalist wave, calling it "moment marketing". "How can we gain from that sentiment at least for this week and next? That's literally what all these brands are doing," said communications consultant Karthik Srinivasan to Reuters.

Other companies are tapping into the mood. Dairy giant Amul pushed out cartoons celebrating "Made in India" products featuring its butter and the Indian flag, while Rediff, the once-popular email provider, had previously ran ads positioning itself as "the mail of India".

Shares of Dabur ended 1.02% lower at Rs 547.05 apiece, as compared to a 0.03% rise in the benchmark Nifty 50.