Thursday, March 4, 2010

Rin Vs Tide

There is a new fight in the biggest soap opera. In a new television advertisement, Hindustan Unilever's Rin detergent has been taking direct shots at Procter & Gamble's Tide Naturals. The latest offensive from Rin, a TV commercial claiming to be better than Tide by not just naming but showing the competitive product, has brought the debate on comparative advertising back in focus. In my view, comparative advertising is permissible if it’s based on facts.

Tide Naturals is a cheaper variant of P&G's Tide, with Rs 10 and Rs 20 packages. In the Rin commercial, the Tide Natural pack is quite prominently displayed, without the fig-leaf of masking that Indian advertisers traditionally resort to while taking potshots at competition. The voiceover "Tide se kahin behtar safedi de Rin (Rin washes much whiter than Tide)" leaves nothing to imagination. It's war, open and direct. Barring rare exceptions, fast moving consumer goods brands have stayed away from direct hits at competing brands.

Comparative ads aren’t new to India. Many years ago, Trikaya Grey created an ad for HCL Photocopiers which directly named Modi Xerox in their ads. The comparison was feature-to-feature and specifically mentioned why HCL was better. There have been others too, the recent Horlicks vs. Complan ads come to mind.

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