Amul defends commercials, points finger at HUL

Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF), which sells its products under Amul brand, on Saturday defended its TV commercial for ice cream and accused Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) of resorting to “stunt to pressurise and frighten” it.

FMCG major HUL has moved Bombay High Court against Amul over the commercial, which suggests to consumers to buy Amul ice cream and not the “frozen dessert” as the latter was made from vegetable oil and was not healthy.

GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi said HUL’s litigation was a “stunt”. “HUL, which makes frozen dessert, has challenged our latest TV commercial that aims to create awareness among consumers about the difference between ice cream and frozen dessert. The latter is made from vegetable oil, while ice cream is made from milk fat. This is HUL’s stunt to pressure and frighten us into submission. But they don’t know that we are backed by 36 lakh poor farmers who want to make consumers aware about the products they are buying.”

He further said HUL had dragged Amul to Advertising Standard Council of India last year objecting to the latter’s move to distribute pamphlets on the same issue, but the ASCI ruled in its favour, saying Amul’s campaign “does not disparage the entire campaign of frozen dessert”.

He said ice cream is made from milk fat while frozen dessert is made from vegetable fat, and cannot be called an ice cream. “FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) has named this category as frozen dessert. We thought of informing our consumers to check the packet of the product to ensure if it is ice cream or frozen dessert.”

Amul is looking at ~1,0001,100 crore market share in ice cream segment this year, he said. Sodhi said Amul had created a “awareness” campaign differentiating between butter and margarine, and is also planning to launch another campaign regarding cheese and cheese analogues.