Ghazal Alagh, co-founder of Honasa Shopper Ltd., lately made headlines by criticising Hindustan Unilever’s (HUL) legacy model Lakmé for alleged plagiarism. In a put up on X, previously generally known as Twitter, Alagh remarked, “Oops, somebody was caught copying”, alongside comparative pictures of Honasa’s and HUL’s merchandise, together with Lakmé and Sunsilk. She additional commented, “And when that didn’t work, we caught them backbiting.” This public trade follows a historical past of aggressive interactions between the 2 magnificence business giants.
The battle took a extra particular type when Honasa Shopper strategically positioned a hoarding subsequent to a Lakmé commercial, declaring the current in-vivo testing of Lakmé’s SPF 50 sunscreen. The billboard learn, “Hey Lakmé, congratulations on lastly getting SPF 50 in-vivo examined. Welcome to The Derma Co. commonplace.” This was in direct response to Lakmé’s advert marketing campaign that allegedly undermined the efficacy claims of digital-first sunscreen manufacturers, a class the place Honasa’s The Derma Co. model is outstanding.
The Lakmé advert marketing campaign said: “Hey Lakmé, congratulations on lastly getting SPF 50 in-vivo examined. Welcome to The Derma Co. commonplace.”
In her X put up, Alagh mentioned: “Good competitors is at all times nice for any market. It retains manufacturers from changing into sleepy & brings extra innovation for the shoppers. Indian FMCG has lacked good competitors for a very long time, resulting in giant conventional manufacturers changing into complacent. We take delight in the truth that we’ve got been difficult these norms and waking up these manufacturers repeatedly. We did it with @mamaearthindia in making manufacturers transfer in direction of clear label elements and now once more with The Derma Co., which is exhibiting the best way round sincere energetic disclosures & claims based mostly on science. This has led to immense love from shoppers, which is an envy of many rivals. Comfortable to see conventional manufacturers following once more and even blatantly copying merchandise from identify to packaging. We are going to hold innovating and exhibiting the best way.”
In her assertion, she mentioned: “We Honasa Shopper Ltd. put plenty of love, effort and laborious work in bringing true innovation to our shoppers… Humble request to respect innovation and never plagiarise it.”
