It’s ballsy, it’s cheeky and it breaks the blah barrier that most detergent ads never get past.
Rin has come on top in the Rin vs Tide war. If you haven’t seen the ad, check it out on Youtube right away. It shows a woman with Tide in her shopping bag, going on and on about its superiority to a woman who has Rin in hers. Then both their sons arrive, and Rin lady’s son’s white uniform is way whiter than Tide lady’s son’s. Tide lady’s face goes white. Rin lady’s son asks mom why aunty looks so shocked. Rin lady can’t help but smile.
Comparative advertising is good for the consumer as it forces brands to put their cards on the table. As long as the claims are provable, the trumped brand has to pull up its socks or get out of the race. So the consumer gets to buy better quality.
The Pepsi Challenge in 80s America made this type of advertising famous. It showed consumers preferring Pepsi over Coke in a series of blind taste tests. In India, the cola wars have not been quite so direct but rather more subtly ferocious. When Coke became the official sponsor of the cricket World Cup in 1997, Pepsi cocked a snook at them with their irreverent ‘Nothing official about it’ campaign.
Some critics say that comparative ads end up benefiting the competition by mentioning their name in your ad. Others say consumers get confused about which of the two brands mentioned in the ad is making the superiority claim. Yet others say it is simply not cricket to get down and dirty in your advertising.
The Advertising Standards Council of India allows for comparative advertising, as long as the comparisons are fair and substantiated. But comparative ads are uncommon in India. Complan vs. Horlicks and HCL vs. Modi Xerox are amongst the few exceptions.
My favourite international comparative campaign is the Mac vs. PC one. Tongue firmly in cheek and very direct, this campaign pits feature vs. feature, showing a gauche PC Guy outsmarted every time by the cool Mac Guy. This campaign has helped Mac get market share from Windows-based competitors.
Tide is desperately trying to get the Rin ad pulled off the air, but has, so far, been unsuccessful. I think brands should slug it out in their ads, rather than taking their battle to court. That way the consumer can be the judge. And, ultimately, the real winner.
(The author is Executive Creative Director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather)