Amul Macho accuses Lux Cozi of ripping its 2007 Toing underwear ad 

“You’ve copied my underwear ad” is not something you expect to hear every other day, or any day for that matter. But, that day is today.

JG Hosiery, makers of Macho Innerwear, has accused rival Lux Cozi of plagiarism of its 2007 Amul Macho Toing ad.

Navinn Seksaria, CEO, JG Hosiery, says, “We find it shocking that a worthy and esteemed competitor appears to want to ride on the creative success of a brand that’s a market leader in its category, by blatantly copying its popular ad concept and executional elements. We hope good reason will prevail and the copied ad will be withdrawn forthwith.”

JG Hosiery has complained about the ad to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Indian adland’s guardian, which has accepted the complaint for further processing.

Chapter IV of the ASCI Code, Clause 4.3, states: “Advertisements shall not be similar to any other advertiser’s earlier run advertisements in general layout, copy, slogans, visual presentations, music or sound effects, so as to suggest plagiarism.”

Here are the executional elements of the Amul Macho ad that JG Hosiery says appears in the Lux Cozi ad:

• The way the woman holds up the underwear

• The colour of the underwear

• The shape of the underwear

• Specific expressions of the support cast when they see the underwear

• The music theme

• The setting of a small town, and washing/drying clothes

The press note from JG Hosiery says, “Both women in the two respective ads hold up the underwear to make a statement about the fact that, “My man wears this.” The similarity between the two ads does not end there. It has so many common executional elements that JG Hosiery has felt compelled to call out the copy-cat work. And also, point out, what appears to be an opportunistic brand building attempt by Lux Cozi.”