HUL and Vadilal cries foul over Amul’s real milk Ice Cream claims; files law suit

Mumbai: Amul Ice Cream’s recent ad film, claiming to be made of real milk that also projects Frozen desserts are being made of Vansapati, haven’t gone well with Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Vadilal Group as both have joined forces to initial legal proceedings against Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the makers of “Amul” ice cream and other range of Amul products.

HUL, which markets “Kwality Walls”, has filed a case in the Bombay high court against GCMMF, terming the latter’s recently launched TV advertisement as “misleading”. Vadilal Industries and Vadilal Dairy International, which also manufacture frozen desserts, have a common interest in the matter and are supporting HUL in the suit. In its suit HUL has sought immediate removal of the advertisement which, according to GCMMF, was launched to “educate consumers to identify and differentiate between ice-cream and frozen desserts”.

Though the advertisement only talks about Amul ice creams being made from “real milk” as opposed to “frozen desserts” which are made from “vegetable oil”. The TVC nowhere named any brand not accused any competitor of doing so.

HUL company spokesperson, said: “Amul has been airing a misleading television commercial since March 2017. This advertisement makes factually incorrect statements creating apprehensions among consumers of frozen desserts. The advertisement makes incorrect claims about the usage of ‘vanaspati/vanaspati-tel’ in frozen dessert products. We wish to clarify that Kwality Wall’s range of ‘frozen desserts’ do not contain Vanaspati. In fact, Kwality Wall’s range of frozen desserts contain milk/milk solids like ice creams. The only difference is that frozen desserts use vegetable fat instead of dairy fat, which actually makes them healthier as they have lower saturated fat and do not have cholesterol.”

In response to the legal notice, Amul said that the new campaign is an effort to educate consumers to identify and differentiate between ice-cream and frozen desserts.

It said that Kwality Walls has been masquerading their frozen desserts made from vegetables oils as ice cream for so many years.

The statement added that Amul has always worked in interest of milk producers and consumers and would not be intimidated by the legal notices of HUL.