A complaint by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which produces India’s best-selling butter brand Amul, against the Ahmedabad-based company Zydus Cadila, for claiming in advertising that its NutraLite margarine brand is better than butter, has been upheld by the Advertisement Standard Council of India (ASCI).
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According to a report in the newspaper The Economic Times, the GCMMF lodged a written complaint with the ASCI against the claims made in the NutraLite ads, and obtained a response from the ASCI on Monday (5 Feb), upholding the complaint.
In its reply to the GCMMF, the ASCI reportedly said that it had asked Zydus Cadila to modify or withdraw the advertisement, and was currently waiting for the company’s response.
However, Zydus is reported to be planning to make a counter-claim to the ASCI, alleging that the GCMMF itself makes misleading claims about the Amul Lite brand.
In its original complaint, the GCMMF had claimed that NutraLite’s advertising was “denigrating and discrediting” butter as a category, made unfair comparisons between two completely different product categories, and had stated that butter is made from animal fat categorising it as a non-vegetarian product.
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By GlobalDataClaims about the cholesterol level in butter and a link with higher risk of heart disease were also disputed by the GCMMF which said that cholesterol was essential for various body metabolisms, and that the cholesterol content of butter is relatively low.
