BackHUL’s Vaseline ad slips on stay order
HUL’s Vaseline ad slips on stay order
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New Delhi: Emami Ltd, a maker of personal care products, has obtained a stay from a Kolkata civil court that stops rival Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) from airing an advertisement for its Vaseline body lotion. The contentious commercial compares Vaseline with a tube of cream with Boro written on it, and a narrator saying that while an “ordinary Boro" lasts for only a few hours, Vaseline provides protection for 24 hours. Emami said in court that the advertisement was a “deliberate and intentional disparagement of Emami’s Boroplus" cream. HUL has contested the stay.
“We felt it was a deliberate attempt to denigrate our Boroplus brand by showing that Vaseline was a better product," Emami director Harsh Agarwal said. “The ad shows a product which looks similar to our brand with Boro written on the pack. It is clearly done with the intention to deride our brand."
The firm issued a statement on Friday that the Kolkata court had passed the stay order on 7 November. A HUL spokesperson, however, said: “We wish to clarify that the term Boro is not a trademark. It is a term generic to various skin creams in the market." Other brands that have Boro as a part of their name include Boroline, Boro Natural and Borosoft. The court will hear the matter by the end of this month, Agarwal said.
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