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Unibic Cookies press ad in trouble following court order
Allegedly, the Unibic ad took a pot-shot at competing brand Britannia Good Day. Unibic Cookies has been refrained from producing any further ads, which in any manner vilify Britannia Good Day biscuits
Following a court tussle between Britannia and the Australia-based biscuit company, Unibic, over a press ad by the latter, an order of injunction has been passed against that ad, while also restraining Unibic from issuing any further advertisements which in any manner disparage Good Day, Britannia’s premium biscuit brand. This order has been passed by the City Civil Court in Bangalore.
The whole controversy began when Unibic Biscuits India issued press advertisements in leading publications (including The Times of India and Economic Times), which allegedly disparaged and discredited competitor Britannia Good Day.
The banned Unibic ad. Click here to see bigger image. |
To quote words from the court order, “The defendant (Unibic) is directed to remove the word ‘Good Day’ from the impugned newspaper advertisements and the word ‘Forget the good’ and ‘pack’ from the TV ads frame, till the disposal of the suit”. Apparently, a small scale television advertisement for Unibic contained some words detrimental to Good Day, and the court directive demands that this ad be sufficiently modified.
As is known, Britannia’s Good Day (which came into existence in 1986) has had the positioning statement, ‘Have a Good Day’ for years together, in an obvious attempt to draw a connection between the brand name and its positioning premise. The blatant use of the words ‘Why have a good day’ triggered off the uproar, as it not only denigrated the product name, but also its brand building.
The Unibic ad has been created by G3, Grey Worldwide’s sister agency. Several attempts to contact the G3 executives went futile.