Rin vs Tide

There was a new twist to the soap opera on Wednesday with Procter & Gamble India (P&G) moving the Calcutta High Court against Hindustan Unilver's Rin TV commercial, which the company said was "disparaging" against its mid-tier detergent brand, Tide Naturals.

The Rin commercial, launched on Friday, February 26, openly compares Rin and Tide Naturals, with a claim of delivering better whiteness at an affordable price. On Monday, in a related issue, the Madras High Court had issued an order to P&G to modify its advertising for its product Tide Naturals to clarify to consumers that Tide Naturals does not contain 'lemon' and 'chandan'.

"The ex parte order passed by the Madras court against the Tide Naturals TV copy was vacated on Monday. The court had asked us to make minor modifications to the Tide naturals TV copy within 72 hrs for which modification has been done," said a P&G spokesperson. The order was passed in response to a suit filed by HUL on February 25, this year.

Said an HUL spokesperson: "You will be aware of the recent launch and advertising of one of our competitors which has sought to give the impression that their's is a natural detergent when in fact, by their own admission in court, it is a synthetic detergent. This has misled consumers at large."

Responding to the order that its Tide Naturals' advertisement was misleading, the P&G spokesperson said, "Like our advertisement claims, Tide Naturals promises great cleaning while keeping your hands soft, because it has the goodness and freshness that of lemon and sandalwood. This claim does not in anyway lead the consumers to believe that any natural ingredients are present in the detergent."