Hindustan Unilever Ltd., India's largest consumer goods maker, has won this round of the ice cream war. The Bombay High Court has directed the maker of Amul brand of dairy products to withdraw an advertisement that Hindustan Unilever found disparaging to its products.
HUL had filed the case on March 21 against the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, objecting to two Amul television commercials distinguishing between ice creams and frozen deserts. The advertisement claimed that Amul sold the “real ice cream” made from “real milk” and the rivals' products made with Vanaspati were frozen deserts. HUL is the market leader in frozen deserts with half the share.
Amul argued that there was no reference to HUL or its line of products. The court disagreed.
Even if there is no direct reference to the productof the plaintiff and only a reference is made to the entire class of products in itsgeneric sense, even in those circumstances disparagement is possible.Bombay High Court Order
A spokesperson for Amul said the company was yet to receive a copy of the order and would decide its coarse after reviewing it in detail.
The commercial showed milk overflowing into a cup of Amul ice cream and compared it to a solid mass in a another cup representing frozen deserts. HUL argued that the mass being referred to as vanaspati was malicious because it conjured up hydrogenated vegetable oil in the minds of the consumer. The company's products contained vegetable oil that was not hydrogenated and was in a liquid state, it said.
Amul later amended the voice-over to replace the word vanaspati with “vanaspati tel” , but this did not pass muster with the court. It felt that the health risks associated with vanaspati, the use of a child in the story line, and disclaimers that were hardly visible made it clear that the intention of the advertisement was to disparage all manner of frozen deserts and portray them as being unhealthy, irrespective of the ingredients they used. This, according to the judgement, was disparaging to the frozen deserts category as a whole.
The court said it reached the conclusion after considering the content, intent, manner and story line of the commercials.
(The commercials when) seen as a whole convey a false,untruthful, malicious and negative message that frozen desserts containvanaspati (which is perceived as unhealthy), are not pure, are inferior to icecreams, not meant to be given to children, is not the right choice and shouldnot be purchased (sic).Bombay High Court Order
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