Dettol’s Clean Sweep Deters Comparative Advertisement By Competitors

The world of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs), thrives more often than not on their ability to advertise and make the product attractive to consumers at large, comparisons, puffing and praise being common to the exercise. This seems to be cashed in further in sensitive sectors such as healthcare, whereby comparative advertising seems to be becoming the norm of the day.

The most evident and recent incidents of comparative advertising resulted into a clash between Reckitt Benckiser India ltd and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Hindustan Unilever, on both occasions, faced the squabble against Reckitt Benckiser's popular Dettol. The first instance was for their use of "nahane ke paani mein 'do dhakkan' antiseptic liquid" (and the use of a liquid, which made an obvious reference to Dettol) in a TV commercial for Lifebuoy (IA No. 11467/2012 in CS (OS) No. 1834/2012) while the second one disparaged Dettol Healthy Kitchen Dish and Slab Gel as a "Harsh Antiseptic" in its print