AD Wars From Convert To Overt

More and more brands complain about comparative advertising, also drag rivals to court

- Samarpita Banerjee, Dipali Banka and Eularie Saldanha

Ad wars have hottened up all around us. While ambush advertising has gone from covert references to a rival brand to overt, from subtle to full-blown spoofs with brands openly hitting out at a rival in the same space, many brands are taking their competitors to court on allegations of misleading claims or for coming up with disparaging communication.

Take for instance what happened in the last few weeks. Herbal beauty products brand Lotus took Hindustan Unilever (HUL) to court for the latter’s ad ‘meant for internal consumption’ leaked on WhatsApp that implies that a Lotus sunscreen is of inferior quality than one of HUL’s brands and that it leads to sunburn. Airconditioner manufacturer Voltas filed a court case against Chinese home appliances and consumer electronics company Haier as one of its recent ad campaigns spoofs the former, implying that its product is of inferior quality. Or telecom major Reliance Jio dragging rival Bharti Airtel to court on allegations that the latter’s IPL communication is misleading consumers.

Whether comparative advertising is effective for a brand – i.e., whether it helps in making any kind of impact in terms of sales is debatable. What it does manage to do is get people talking about the brands, and this leads to an increase in overall brand recall, especially in the era of social media where anything remotely catchy or controversial gets widely shared.

However, ethically is it right for a brand to make a deliberate overt attack on its competitor? Where should a brand draw the line while degrading its competition? What are the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) regulations to protect brands at the receiving end of these campaigns and how effective are these rules?

COMPARATIVE ADS THROUGH THE YEARS