The Delhi High Court has recently ruled in favour of Dabur India, allowing the company to publish an advertisement for its ayurvedic toothpaste, Dabur Red Paste, with a modified tagline. The court has permitted the use of the tagline “World’s leading Ayurvedic paste” instead of the original tagline “World’s number 1 Ayurvedic paste”. Dabur India had appealed to the High Court against the directive of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), which had asked the company to alter its advertisement. ASCI had raised concerns about the ad’s unfair portrayal and exaggeration, deeming it misleading.
Justice Pratibha M Singh, while allowing Dabur India to proceed with the publication of the advertisement, emphasised the need to give advertisers some freedom. She stated that objections to advertisements can only be raised if the representation being made is absolutely false or misleading. Mere allusions, without a decipherable comparison, would not be sufficient to make a case of generic disparagement.The court recognized that advertising constitutes a form of commercial speech and that a certain degree of exaggeration, or puffery, is acceptable as long as the claims made are within reasonable bounds.
The court also considered the market research studies conducted by Mordor Intelligence, which Dabur India had cited to support its claims. While ASCI had dismissed the authenticity of the supporting data mentioned in the report, the Delhi High Court stated that the report could not be entirely disregarded.
The court observed that in order to portray a product as superior or better than existing products, a generic comparison highlighting the strength of the advertiser’s own product should be permissible. Creativity in advertising should not be stifled, and a television commercial should be viewed as a whole from the perspective of an ordinary consumer or viewer.
RTM Watch’s Take
The Delhi High Court’s ruling strikes a balance between allowing advertisers the freedom to promote their products and ensuring that claims made in advertisements are within reasonable bounds. This decision recognizes the importance of commercial speech and the need for a certain degree of exaggeration in advertising. This ruling not only upholds the advertiser’s creative liberty but also underscores the significance of considering advertisements from the viewpoint of an average consumer, ensuring a fair and reasonable assessment of commercial communication.
