HUL wins lawsuit against Amul over ice-cream advertisement
MUMBAI: Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on Friday won a lawsuit it filed in the Bombay high court against Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), owner of Amul brand, for airing ads that it said disparaged frozen desserts.
HUL, India’s largest packaged consumer products maker, produces the Kwality Wall’s brand of frozen desserts and icecreams. A single-judge bench comprising justice SJ Kathawalla granted HUL’s plea for an injunction against the advertisements that Amul began airing in March. The court also denied GCMMF’s plea for a stay.
The plea was granted on grounds that the ads disparaged the entire category of frozen desserts in which Kwality Wall’s is the leader.
“This court having come to the conclusion that defendant No. 1 is guilty of disparaging the rival product, i.e. frozen desserts, by making false statements of facts with regard to the same and also indulging in a neg- ative campaign, and asking the consumers not to have frozen desserts but instead have the product of defendant No.1, i.e. Amul ice-cream, which is not permissible in law, the question of granting any stay on the order does not arise. The application for stay is therefore rejected,” justice Kathawalla said.
Justice Kathawalla also refused to suggest changes to the ads, saying that “the disparaging manner in which the impugned TVCs are made/prepared, it is in any event not possible to direct/ order/suggest any modification/s to the same”.
“We are pleased that the Honourable Bombay high court while injuncting Amul’s advertisement has agreed with HUL’s contention that Amul’s advertisement is false, misleading consumers and disparages frozen desserts,” Sudhir Sitapati, executive director-refreshments, HUL, said in an e-mailed statement. “Kwality Wall’s products are made with milk/milk solids and do not contain vanaspati. In fact, our frozen dessert products use milk without cholesterol to offer healthy and exciting choices to consumers,” he added.
GCMMF managing director RS Sodhi did not respond to a request for comment.