Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) informed the Delhi High Court that it will take down the Lakme sunscreen advertisement that allegedly disparages The Derma Co. The company assured the Court it will remove all online posts within 24 hours and take down physical hoardings within 48 hours.
New Delhi: Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), which owns the Lakme brand, informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that it will withdraw and republish its advertisements after removing references that allegedly disparage Honasa Consumer Limited’s Derma Co brand.
HUL also stated that it will change the color of the product depicted in the advertisement from orange to yellow to eliminate any association with Derma Co.
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The FMCG giant told Justice Amit Bansal that it would take down online posts within 24 hours and hoardings within 48 hours.
The case is scheduled for further progress reporting on Monday.
The contested Lakme advertisement claims that an “online bestseller sunscreen is misrepresenting its Sun Protection Factor (SPF) and could lead to skin pigmentation.”
The “SPF Lie Detector Test” ad first aired on April 12, 2025, posing the question,
“Kya online bestseller pass hoga?”
While displaying bottles that resemble Derma Co’s packaging futhrer remarked,
“SPF 50 but gives SPF 20 and SPF 50, Truth 100,”
Honasa alleged that HUL’s campaign was a “classic hit and run,” falsely suggesting that Honasa’s sunscreen is ineffective and making misleading claims.
Their counsel argued,
“They are alleging that if someone uses my product, there will be pigmentation… They cannot come and do this; they have to show some proof.”
In today’s hearing, HUL contended that it possesses clinical evidence indicating that Honasa’s products do not provide SPF 50 and submitted a report to the Court to support this claim. HUL also argued that Honasa needed to demonstrate extraordinary damage to obtain a court order.
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Honasa maintained that while comparative advertising is allowed within certain limits, HUL had crossed the “Laxman Rekha” by not only promoting its product as superior but also implying that Derma Co’s product is “bad” and that the competitor brand is “not trustworthy.”
Challenging HUL’s claims in the ad, Honasa pointed out that HUL had relied on a two-page executive summary from a test report dated February 27, 2025, to bolster its assertions.
Honasa’s counsel argued,
“They haven’t submitted the full report, we don’t even know what product was tested. What stopped them from submitting the complete report?”
In contrast, Honasa provided full test reports from Clinical Research Private Limited and another laboratory, both certifying that its sunscreen meets SPF 50 standards.
The Court requested HUL’s lawyers to seek instructions on whether they were willing to withdraw the ads. Following this, the lawyers confirmed that HUL would proceed with the removal. HUL also asked Honasa to take down its counter-advertisement, to which Honasa responded that it had already removed online posts regarding HUL.
HUL had previously filed a suit against Honasa as well as Gazal Alagh in the Bombay High Court. During the afternoon session, this arrangement was communicated to the court. HUL indicated that Gazal Alagh was not a party to the Delhi suit and requested that she also remove her disparaging posts.
Senior Advocate Sharan Jagtiani, representing Honasa and Gazal Alagh, confirmed that Honasa’s commitment to remove its allegedly disparaging advertisements against Lakme would also apply to Gazal Alagh.
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Honasa was represented by Senior Advocates Amit Sibal and Ankit Jain, along with Advocates Mohit Goel, Sidhant Goel, Deepankar Mishra, and Karmanya Dev Sharma from Sim & San.
HUL represented by Senior Advocates Sandeep Sethi and Jayant Mehta, along with Advocate Ajay Bhargava (Senior Partner), Nishad Nadkarni (Partner), Nirupam Lodha (Partner), Khushboo Jhunjhunwala, Kshitij Parashar, Gautam Wadhwa, and Phalguni Nigam from Khaitan & Co.
In the Bombay High Court, HUL was represented by Senior Advocate Virag Tulzapurkar and Advocate Hiren Kamod, along with Advocates Nishad Nadkarni, Aasif Navodia, and Rakshita Sing from Khaitan & Co.
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