MUMBAI: The beauty world’s latest dust-up has settled, with Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) and Honasa Consumer, the brains behind Mamaearth, calling a truce after a courtroom rumble. It all kicked off when Lakmé, HUL’s flagship beauty brand, launched a “sun superiority campaign” that rather pointedly suggested some “online bestsellers” were fibbing about their SPF claims. Honasa, whose Derma Co. brand sports a rather distinctive orange, felt a tad singed, accusing Lakmé of throwing shade on their packaging and claims.
Honasa co-founder Ghazal Alagh took to LinkedIn with a saucy post, welcoming Lakmé to the “in-vivo tested SPF 50 club,” a move that, the Bombay High Court suggested, might have been a tad disparaging itself. HUL, not one to take such cheek lying down, hit back, claiming their tests showed some rivals were, shall we say, economising on the truth.
But the Delhi high court, like a stern headmaster, stepped in and told both parties to play nicely. Lakmé was ordered to tweak its ad, swapping out “online bestseller” for the more vague “some sellers” and changing the offending orange to a demure light yellow. Honasa, in turn, agreed to scrub their social media jibes.
HUL maintained that their campaign was all about keeping consumers safe from those who might be stretching the truth about SPF.
Honasa, perhaps with a sigh of relief, agreed to take down their digital digs. Both parties also promised to remove their physical hoardings, which were apparently giving each other the evil eye, within 48 hours.
This skirmish highlights the fiercely competitive nature of India’s Rs 2,000 crore sun care market, where brands are fighting tooth and nail for a slice of the pie. With consumer understanding of SPF still patchy, there’s plenty of room for both innovation and, it seems, a bit of the old marketing mischief.
