NEW DELHI: Hindustan Lever (HLL) has modified its television
campaign for its New Superior Pepsodent toothpaste after the Advertising
Standards Council of India (ASCI) directed it to do so.
Competitor Colgate had complained that the Lowe Lintas & Partners
creative execution had used similar sound effects as its TVC.
The Pepsodent spot features a boy who reluctantly gives up sweets,
fearful of his mother's reprimand. However, his friend encourages him to
indulge his sweet tooth with impunity, saying he can use Pepsodent to
fight tooth decay.
The boy eventually succumbs, but his happiness is short-lived. His
mother suddenly appears, accompanied by the sound effect of someone
being punched.
The commercial ends with the boy saying: "Mummy, dishum-dishum, to
Pepsodent ka kaam hai na?" (Mother isn't it Pepsodent's job to fight it
out?). HLL modified the TVC by using a new effect to mimic a gun
shot.
According to Colgate, it is using the punch sound effect for an ad
showing a man brushing his teeth. Colgate claimed its campaign had been
weakened by Pepsodent's campaign.
