Scotch-Brite's comparison to Max Scrub in ad lands company Rs10 million fine

On February 14th, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) imposed a substantial penalty of Rs10 million on 3M Pakistan Pvt Ltd for engaging in deceptive marketing practices. The company had been found to be in violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act 2010 through a false comparison between its Scotch-Brite product and Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd’s Max Scrub.

This decision was the result of a complaint filed by Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd, which alleged that a marketing campaign for Scotch-Brite featured a video claim that Max Scrub deteriorated significantly after 20 minutes of washing, in stark contrast to the comparatively better condition of Scotch-Brite. The CCP conducted an inquiry and issued a show-cause notice to 3M Pakistan, challenging the authenticity and reliability of the video demonstration.

It was later revealed that the demonstration was carried out by Muhammad Imran, the then Regional Sales Manager of 3M Pakistan, during his official duties. Despite 3M Pakistan's argument that the employee conducted the demonstration in his personal capacity without authorization, the CCP found that Imran had confirmed the comparison's validity under oath.

The commission ruled that any comparison of competing products without reasonable basis or substantiation could be considered false or misleading advertising. The CCP noted that 3M Pakistan had failed to provide any substantiation for the comparison made in the advertisement. Furthermore, a third-party laboratory report submitted by the complainant, which concluded that the two products were of similar quality, was not disputed by 3M Pakistan during the proceedings.

Consequently, the CCP imposed a penalty of Rs10 million on 3M Pakistan for breach of Section 10(1) and Section 10(2)(c) of the Competition Act 2010 for making a false or misleading comparison of goods in its advertising.