Ad war: Eureka Forbes to suspend TV commercial

Eureka Forbes today told the Bombay High Court that it was ready to suspend the TV commercial of Aquasure,its water purifier,which rival Hindustan Unilever (HUL) claims denigrates its own product. Also,with the consent of both the parties,and in public interest,the HC today directed that water purifiers of both Eureka as well as HUL be sent to Michigan-based NSF laboratory for testing. HUL had taken objection to Eureka’s commercial,which suggests that ‘Pureit’,the HUL’s water purifier,leaves a trace of chlorination byproduct in the purified water.

At the earlier hearings,Eureka Forbes’s lawyers had maintained that the HUL water purifier did have chlorine residue,which could react with a component in crockery,and form a poisonous compound. In a counter-allegation,HUL said water coming out of Eureka’s purifier too contained some poisonous residues.

But today,it agreed to the court’s suggestion that it suspend the commercial of Aquasure within a week,as the court decided to send water purifiers of both the companies to the US-based lab,to verify the allegations of both the sides.