HUL tells Delhi High Court it will remove Lakme sunscreen ad disparaging Derma Co

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), which owns the Lakme brand, on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that it will withdraw and republish its advertisements after removing references that allegedly disparage Honasa Consumer Limited’s Derma Co brand..HUL also said that it will change the colour of the product featured in the advertisement from orange to yellow, in order to eliminate any association with Derma Co.The FMCG giant and Honsala told Justice Amit Bansal that it will remove online posts in 24 hours and hoardings in 48 hours. The case has now been listed for reporting further progress on Monday. The order said "It is agreed between the parties that they shall discontinue the impugned advertisements posted/ published/ circulated in the digital/ social media within 24 hours from today and the print advertisements including hoardings within 48 hours from today.".The Lakme advertisement in question alleges that an "online bestseller" of sunscreen is lying about its Sun Protection Factor (SPF) and that the product could cause skin pigmentation.The “SPF Lie Detector Test” ad first aired on April 12, 2025. It asks “Kya online bestseller pass hoga?” and states “Says SPF 50 but gives SPF 20” and “SPF 50, Truth 100”, while showing bottles resembling Derma Co's packaging.Honasa alleged that HUL’s campaign was a “classic hit and run,” falsely implying that Honasa’s sunscreen is ineffective and makes misleading claims. Their counsel argued,“They are alleging that if someone uses my product, there will be pigmentation...They cannot come and do this; they have to show some proof.”.In today's hearing, HUL contended that it has clinical proof that Honasa's products do not offer SPF 50 and submitted a report to this effect to the Court. It also argued that to obtain an order from the Court, Honasa should have suffered extraordinary damage..Honasa argued that while comparative advertising is permissible within limits, HUL had crossed the “Laxman Rekha” by not only suggesting that its own product is superior, but also implying that Derma Co’s product is “bad” and that the competitor brand itself is “not trustworthy.”Challenging the basis of HUL’s statements in the ad, Honasa pointed out that HUL had relied on a two-page executive summary from a test report dated February 27, 2025, to support its claims. Counsel for Honasa argued,“They haven’t submitted the full report—we don’t even know what product was tested. What stopped them from submitting the complete report?In contrast, Honasa has produced full test reports from Clinical Research Private Limited and another laboratory, both certifying that its sunscreen meets SPF 50 standards, he added..The Court asked HUL's lawyers to obtain instructions on whether they were willing to remove the ads. Subsequently, the lawyers made a statement to this effect. HUL asked Honasa to remove its counter-advertisement. Honasa informed the Court that it had already removed online posts about HUL..HUL had also filed a suit against Honasa as well as Gazal Alagh before the Bombay High Court. When the same came up in the afternoon session the above arrangement was informed to the court. HUL indicated to the court that Gazal Alagh was not a party to the Delhi Suit and she should also undertake to remove her disparaging posts. Senior Advocate Sharan Jagtiani appearing for Honasa and Gazal Alagh confirmed that the undertaking of Honasa to remove its allegedly disparaging advertisements against Lakme and the same would extend to Gazal Alagh as well..Honasa was represented by Senior Advocates Amit Sibal and Ankit Jain with Advocates Mohit Goel, Sidhant Goel, Deepankar Mishra and Karmanya Dev Sharma from Sim & San..HUL was represented by Senior Advocates Sandeep Sethi and Jayant Mehta with Advocate Ajay Bhargava (Senior Partner) Nishad Nadkarni (Partner) Nirupam Lodha (Partner), Khushboo Jhunjhunwala, Kshitij Parashar, Gautam Wadhwa and Phalguni Nigam from Khaitan & Co..In Bombay High Court, HUL was represented by Senior Advocate Virag Tulzapurkar and Advocate Hiren Kamod with Advocates Nishad Nadkarni, Aasif Navodia and Rakshita Sing from Khaitan & Co .Read Delhi High Court order