HC restrains Colgate on toothpowder TV ad

The Delhi High Court on Thursday restrained Colgate from airing its new toothpowder TV commercial on grounds that it is disparaging towards Dabur Lal Dant Manjan and coloured toothpowders in general.

A company releases said the court, in the injunction passed, observed that the "plaintiff (Dabur) is entitled to an injunction and accordingly the defendants (Colgate) are restrained from telecasting the TV commercial".

The court also observed that the non-grant of injunction would cause irreparable injury to the plaintiff not compensable in damages. The injunction, however, would be applicable from September 13.

Dabur India had filed a suit in the Delhi High Court on August 23 seeking injunction against Colgate's new toothpowder TV commercial starring film star Suniel Shetty which showed that Lal Dant Manjan is coarser than white tooth powder and hence, allegedly more abrasive and damaging on teeth.

Dabur had challenged this commercial, through its lawyer Arun Jaitley, on grounds that it is incorrect, misleading and disparaging to the Lal Dant Manjan category and termed it as a "dubious" attempt on part of Colgate to encroach on its increasing market share.

Dabur India, the Rs 1,300-crore FMCG company, has a 75 per cent market share of the Rs 150 crore Lal Dant Manjan market. The closest competitor to Dabur in this category is Baidyanath with a mere 8 per cent market share, the release said.

Dabur had submitted a comparative report by JM Huber Corp, USA, to indicate that its Lal Dant Manjan, though being coarser, has low abrasion and high cleaning properties than Colgate. Colgate, in its reply filed on August 24, had refuted such charges and the matter was put up for arguments.

Following the case filed by Dabur, Doordarshan had decided to ban Colgate new toothpowder ads in its original form and directed all its agencies from airing the ad with immediate effect, the released added.