HUL, Honasa settle sunscreen campaign lawsuit

Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Honasa Consumer Ltd, which owns Mamaearth, have reached a resolution in their legal dispute over rival sunscreen advertisements following proceedings in the Delhi High Court.

Honasa had filed a case in the Delhi High Court against HUL, alleging that an advertising campaign for Lakmé sunscreen misled consumers and disparaged online-first brands. The dispute arose after Honasa co-founder Ghazal Alagh criticised a HUL billboard that highlighted the alleged shortcomings of certain sunscreen products. Honasa claimed the campaign implied digital-first sunscreens were ineffective.

In response to the suit, HUL undertook to withdraw the current version of the campaign and make specific modifications. These include replacing the phrase ‘best seller’ with ‘some sellers’ and changing the colour of the sunscreen product shown in the advertisement to a light yellow shade. HUL asked for 24 hours to take down digital versions of the campaign, while both parties agreed to jointly remove outdoor hoardings within 48 hours.

The Delhi High Court refrained from issuing an injunction on the Lakmé campaign and allowed HUL to continue displaying its ad after making the mandated changes. HUL said that its campaign was part of its awareness creation programme, Sun Superiority and it aimed to educate consumers about SPF efficacy, transparency, and consumer protection from the sun.

A statement issued by HUL mentioned that independent laboratory tests had revealed that certain sunscreen products available in the market wrongly claimed SPF 50. Honasa Consumer Ltd has confirmed that it has taken down its social media posts that make a reference to Lakmé.

HUL had moved the Bombay High Court appealing to contain Honasa from running an advertisement, which, according to HUL, was disparaging to Lakmé sunscreen. The lawsuit attracted attention of the industry and media amid the rising competition in India’s sun care market, especially among the established players and the new, digital-first brands.