Rin v. Tide: P&G Goes to Court:
Rin’s latest advertisement, placing itself to be a better bet than Tide is anything but squeaky clean (pun intended). Having done so, the ugly head of commercial disparagement has been reared again. According to latest news reports, P&G which owns “Tide” has knocked the doors of the Calcutta High Court in relation to HUL’s controversial Rin advertisement.
Would such an ad cause a consumer to actually think that Tide is not a good product and cause its users to change loyalties? Surely a discerning viewer and consumer would not have looked at the Sprite ad that poked fun at Mountain Dew and decide against consuming the latter! In fact, by resorting to such a form of advertisement, Rin has unnecessarily included Tide in their screen time. Creating the current brouhaha has only given Tide free publicity funded by Rin. With the hefty prospect of impending litigation and free publicity to the owner of the disparaged brand, it is time that brands employ a cost-benefit analysis to such disparaging advertisements.
