The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed Patanjali Ayurved to edit parts of its chyawanprash advertisement after finding them disparaging towards rival brand Dabur.
A division bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla said Patanjali may continue to use the phrase “Why settle for ordinary Chyawanprash”, but ordered it to remove the additional claim “made with 40 herbs.”
The ruling came on Patanjali’s appeal against a single judge’s July order that had restrained it from airing “disparaging” commercials against Dabur. That order had also objected to references suggesting that only Patanjali had the authentic knowledge of Ayurveda, citing names like Charak, Sushrut, Dhanvantri, and Chyawan Rishi.
Patanjali’s counsel told the court the company would drop the “40 herbs” line and was not pressing for clearance of the other barred statements.
The bench observed that while “ordinary” may sound comparative, in the context of a health supplement like chyawanprash, it amounted to advertising puffery rather than actionable disparagement.
“If someone says ‘ordinary’ for a cancer drug, it might be serious. But chyawanprash is used widely. Saying ‘I am the best’ and others are not as good is puffery,” the court noted, adding that such a claim would not stop consumers from buying Dabur’s product.
The court permitted Patanjali to run its print and TV commercials after making the required edits.
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