Acknowledging the necessity for granting a degree of freedom to advertisers, the Delhi High Court has granted permission to Dabur India to release its advertisement for Dabur Red Paste, an ayurvedic toothpaste, with a minor modification. The court specified that the company is permitted to utilize the tagline “World’s leading Ayurvedic paste” in lieu of the original “World’s number 1 Ayurvedic paste.”
“It is clear that advertising is part of commercial speech and some puffery is allowed as long as the same does not go beyond the grey areas and the assertions made are reasonable,” Justice Prathiba M. Singh said.
In Dabur’s context, the judge remarked that the advertisement cannot be deemed devoid of any basis. “Moreover, the report relied upon by the plaintiff also cannot be completely ignored and some credence can be given to the fact that as per the report, the plaintiff is selling one of the major toothpaste brands. In the opinion of this court, in business, some amount of freedom ought to be given to the advertiser,” she said, while permitting Dabur to publish the advertisement, however, with a slight modification.
Dabur India approached the High Court in response to the Advertising Standards Council of India’s (ASCI) directive on September 30, instructing Dabur to amend its advertisement and refrain from publishing content deemed misleading, constituting unfair portrayal and exaggeration.
Although Dabur had informed the Council that the toothpaste claims were supported by market research studies conducted by Mordor Intelligence, the High Court observed that the report referenced by the company should not be entirely dismissed. Some credibility could be attributed to the fact that Dabur sells one of the prominent toothpaste brands. Nevertheless, the advertising regulator had refuted Dabur’s assertions, particularly regarding the authenticity of the data source that purportedly demonstrates global leadership for the company’s ayurvedic toothpaste.
“After having perused the report and the objections raised by ASCI, this court is of the view that the advertisement cannot remain injuncted forever,” Justice Singh said.
