NEW DELHI: Reckitt Benckiser has agreed before the Calcutta High Court that it will remove the visual in its television commercial claiming quantum of germs killed by use of the Dettol Healthy Kitchen and Vim Liquid.

However, the Court did not grant any stay of the TVC asserting that Dettol Healthy Kitchen was 100 times better at germ killing capability than Vim Liquid manufactured by Hindustan Unilever.

The matter has been listed on 18 March for further orders.

HUL had claimed that Dettol was a disinfectant/drug and therefore it could not be compared to Vim Liquid which does not have any disinfectant as an ingredient.

A statement from Reckitt Benckiser said that this meant that it could continue to compare its product with that of Vim. RBIL also claimed that prior to launch, it had got the product tested from an Independent Laboratory (SGS Laboratory, India) and got it certified that apart from cleaning, it provides 99.9% Germ Kill and compared to Vim LIQUID, manufactured by HUL, it is 100 times better, when diluted like all dishwashing liquids.

On Friday last, Dettol aired a TVC for its Kitchen Cleaner that showed HUL‘s Vim as the weaker product. In reply, HUL‘s Vim published a front page print ad in The Times of India on Sunday, asking consumers to choose between a harsh antiseptic and the power of 100 lemons to clean a child‘s tiffin box. In the end, the ad says ‘No one removes grease better. No one removes germs better. That‘s a Vim challenge!‘.

It also took the legal course with the Calcutta High Court passing an order last Friday, asking RB to remove the portion where Vim is shown in the ad.