HUL, Mamaearth parent Honasa move high court: How a skincare ad war became a legal tussle

A heated competition in India’s burgeoning sunscreen market has turned into a full-blown legal battle after Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) and Honasa Consumer Ltd, owner of Mamaearth and The Derma Co, dragged each other to court over alleged misleading claims and disparaging advertisements.

The controversy started after HUL’s latest campaign for its Lakmé SPF 50 sunscreen took a pointed swipe at competitors. Though no brands were directly named, the visuals in the ‘SPF Lie Detector Test’ campaign seemed to mimic the packaging style of competing brands, including The Derma Co.

HUL asserted that certain "online bestseller sunscreens" claiming SPF 50 actually offer far lower protection, closer to SPF 20.

Honasa moved the Delhi High Court, claiming the campaign unfairly undermines its product, The Derma Co sunscreen.

The court has issued notice to HUL and scheduled the next hearing for Thursday.

Responding to that, HUL has also filed a separate lawsuit before the Bombay High Court against Honasa Consumer.

In a post on LinkedIn, Honasa co-founder Ghazal Alagh criticised what she called the complacency of traditional FMCG players.

“Good competition is always great for any market... I’m so glad to see more awareness building around [sun protection]... Happy to see traditional brands follow again & even blatantly copy products from name to packaging,” she wrote, referring to Lakmé's recent campaign.

She also posted an image of side-by-side hoardings of Lakmé and The Derma Co taking potshots at each other.

In a statement on social media platforms, Lakme said, "Some brands, currently on the online best sellers list, are claiming to be in-vivo tested; however, their in-market sunscreen product sample delivers SPF 20 against a claim of SPF 50.

In vivo is a clinical method of testing, which means "within the living" and refers to biological processes or experiments conducted within a whole, living organism, such as a human, animal, or plant.

According to German data gathering platform Statista, the Indian sunscreen market is estimated to be around USD 832.32 million. The market will experience an annual growth rate of 6 per cent for the next five years till 2030.