Battle for the Lavatory Care Market in India Gets Dirty

Details

Case Code : CLMM071
Publication date : 2009
Subject : Marketing Management
Industry : -
Length : 02 Pages
Price : Rs. 100

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Key words:

Advertising, consumer claims, controversial ads, competition, legal, Fast moving consumer goods, FMCG, lavatory care market, lavatory care brand, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, HUL, Reckitt & Benckiser, Domex, Harpic

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Abstract:

Indian FMCG giants, Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Reckitt & Benckiser of India Ltd. are locked in a legal battle over the ads of their respective lavatory care brands Domex and Harpic. Both companies have been accusing each other of improper advertising of their respective lavatory care brands.

Introduction Early 2008 saw the battle for the lavatory care market in India spill over into the courtrooms with the country's two fast moving consumer group (FMCG) majors, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) and Reckitt & Benckiser of India Ltd (R&B), engaged in a legal tussle over advertisements (ads) for their respective lavatory care brands. R&B, the Indian arm of UK-based cleaning products manufacturer Reckitt & Benckiser Plc, was India's leading player in the house cleaning, lavatory care, floor/shoe polishes, insect repellants, and antiseptic liquid segments.

Its product range included Harpic, Dettol, Lizol, Robin, Cherry Blossom, and Mortein. As of 2007, R&B was facing tough competition from India's largest FMCG company, HUL, the Indian arm of one of the world's leading consumer goods companies, Unilever Plc.

While HUL's Domex was giving R&B's Lizol tough competition in the surface cleaner market, its lavatory care brand Domex Cleaner (Domex) was also emerging as a tough challenger to R&B's lavatory care brand Harpic, the market leader in the segment with around an 80 percent market share...

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