HUL Vs Honasa: FMCG Major Agrees To Modify Sunscreen Ad After Delhi HC Hearing

In a major development to the legal dispute between FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Honasa Consumer, the Delhi High Court today closed the matter after HUL agreed to withdraw its sunscreen advertisement campaign and make changes to the existing one.

The FMCG major told the court that it would withdraw the current ‘Lakme Sun Expert SPF 50’ sunscreen advertisement and republish it after removing any references that could be seen as disparaging The Derma Co.

HUL has agreed before the Delhi HC to remove the sunscreen’s online posts within 24 hours and physical hoardings within 48 hours.

To avoid confusion or association, HUL agreed to change the colour of the product in the ad from orange (which resembled The Derma Co’s packaging) to yellow.

This comes after the Delhi High Court, in a hearing yesterday, said that the Lakme ad appeared to be “disparaging on the face of it”. 

The Lakme ad suggested that some rival sunscreens do not live up to their SPF claims (e.g., claiming SPF 50 but delivering as low as SPF 20), while Lakme’s use of in-vivo testing, which is apparently considered a global gold standard for verifying sunscreen effectiveness. 

To this, Honasa (which also does in-vivo testing for its SPF 50 sunscreens) alleged that the Lakme ad disparages The Derma Co by implying it is a brand that provides misleading protection claims. 

Besides, one of the sunscreens used in the ad also closely resembled The Derma Co’s product in packaging and colour.

The dispute reflects the intense competition in India’s fast-growing sunscreen and skincare market, with new-age brands like The Derma Co challenging established giants like HUL.

This is the second legal victory for Honasa this month after it got relief in a year-long legal tussle in Dubai court with its distributor RSM General Trading LLC.

Despite these victories, the company seems to be surrounded by issues created as a part of its transition into the distribution model from the super stockist model. 

This change, created as part of ‘Project Neev’ in Q2 FY25, allegedly resulted in the unsold inventory for Honasa lying with distributors and retailers.

Adding to this, the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF) also pointed out that there were insolvent inventories worth as much as INR 300 Cr lying with the company.

While the result for Q4 FY25 isn’t out yet, Honasa reported a flat consolidated net profit of INR 26.02 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 25.90 Cr in the year-ago quarter, while its operating revenue grew 6% to INR 517.51 Cr during the quarter from INR 488.22 Cr in Q3 FY24.