Reuters
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Colgate Palmolib’s Indian rival, Davur, is making toothpaste a nationalism test by asking consumers to avoid American brands in order to strengthen promotions of local goods amid aggravating trade relations with the US.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated his call on Thursday to use “Swadeshi” or Indian goods.
Children need to “create a list” of products from foreign brands, Modi said, but said teachers should encourage them not to use them.
Last week, US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of up to 50% on imported Indian goods, urging Modi supporters to launch a WhatsApp campaign boycott American brands such as MacDonald’s, Pepsi and Apple.
Dabur, a consumer goods company worth $11 billion, took out a front page newspaper ad this week carrying photos of unbranded toothpaste packs that resemble Colgate’s packaging.
Without naming its rivals, the ad said that India’s favorite toothpaste brand is American and that Dabul is the “swadeshi” choice.
“It was born not here, it was there,” he said, referring to the unnamed toothpaste in the red, white and blue style font of the American flag.
Dabur declined to comment on the ads, and Colgate did not respond to questions from Reuters.
Colgate has a 43% share of the Indian toothpaste market, followed by the Indian forces of Unilever, home to the domestic Pepsodent brand.
Dabur ranks third with a 17% share, according to 2024 Euromonitor data.
India’s 1.4 billion population is a major market for American consumer goods, often purchased from US online retailer Amazon, and over the years the range of US brands has expanded deeply into small towns.
Dabur ads in The Times of India newspaper featured a QR code that takes consumers to the shopping link on the Amazon India website, which captures about a third of online sales in the country.
Communications consultant Karthik Srinivasan called advertising strategies such as Dabur “moment marketing.”
“How can we do it from sentiment this week and next week at least? That’s literally what all these brands are doing,” he said.
Others using similar tactics include Amul, India’s biggest dairy product, which publishes cartoons featuring “Made in India” products on their social media accounts, indicating that one animated ad holds an Indian flag and a slab of butter.
A few years before the rise of Yahoo and Google Mail, Indian email provider Rediff, a popular Indian email provider, has taken out a newspaper ad called “Indian Mail” that helps keep their customers’ business intelligence local.
