The Delhi High Court has ordered Patanjali Ayurved to modify its advertisement that allegedly disparages Dabur’s chyawanprash. A bench comprised of Justices Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla permitted Patanjali to retain the phrase “why settle for ordinary Chyawanprash,” but instructed the company to eliminate the subsequent phrase, “made with 40 herbs.”
This directive followed an appeal by Patanjali against an earlier ruling by a single judge, which prohibited the company from airing “disparaging” advertisements regarding Dabur Chyawanprash. In July, the single judge allowed requests from Dabur India Limited, compelling Patanjali to remove the initial lines from an advertisement, specifically “Why settle for ordinary Chyawanprash made with 40 herbs?” Alongside this, Patanjali was also ordered to delete from the television commercial the line concerning the difficulties other manufacturers face in acquiring the knowledge to prepare original chyawanprash.
On Tuesday, a legal representative for Patanjali informed the bench that they would comply by removing the reference to “made with 40 herbs.” The counsel requested permission to keep the segment stating “ordinary chyawanprash,” emphasizing that Patanjali did not wish to contest the latter portion of the advertisement, which was barred by the earlier ruling.
The bench observed that without the reference to “40 herbs,” the remaining phrase was merely a statement questioning why one would choose “ordinary Chyawanprash.” The bench characterized this as “puffery,” pointing out that it does not pose the same serious implications as disparaging claims about prescription drugs. “We are dealing with Chyawanprash, not a prescription drug… To say ‘I am best and others are not as good as me’ is permissible because it is puffery,” the bench stated, implying that such language is unlikely to deter consumers from using Dabur Chyawanprash.
Justice Mini Pushkarna had earlier instructed Patanjali to omit, “Toh ordinary chyawanprash kyu?” The bench concluded that Patanjali could proceed with its print and television advertisements after making the modifications.
In its petition, Patanjali claimed that its commercial made no specific reference to Dabur. The judge noted in the July ruling that the advertisement featured Ramdev, a well-known yoga expert, who appeared personally. Dabur’s petition had alleged that “Patanjali Special Chyawanprash” was disparaging toward Dabur’s product and to chyawanprash in general, suggesting that no other manufacturer possesses the expertise to prepare it, thus constituting generic disparagement.
