Gillette vs Bombay Shaving: Switch4 ad revised

Bombay Shaving Company has revised its Switch4 advertisement after the Delhi High Court directed it to remove the campaign, in a product disparagement dispute brought by Gillette India. Inc42 reported this on Thursday 17 September 2026, saying the court recorded the company’s compliance on Thursday and that the direction came a day earlier. The report gives no calendar date for the order, no case number and no judge, so none is cited here.

What the court did matters more than the headline. It recorded compliance with an undertaking. It did not rule on whether the advertisement disparaged anything, and Gillette has not won a finding. Gillette alleged the ad disparaged its products. Bombay Shaving Company argued the campaign was comparative advertising and never named Gillette.

Founder Shantanu Deshpande said on LinkedIn that the facts and principles behind the campaign are unchanged. In his words: “Consumers deserve choice. Locking consumers in with a handle and then limiting choice on blades is an anti-market, anti-consumer business strategy.” Switch4 sells blade compatibility, so the handle does not tie a buyer to one maker’s blades.

Two other things came out of the same proceedings. Gillette’s counsel objected to a separate Bombay Shaving Company commercial as obscene and sought intervention, and the court declined to pass an order, saying it could consider the point if formally challenged. Gillette also raised copies of the original advertisement still circulating through social accounts and influencers outside the company’s control, and the court allowed Gillette to approach those platforms directly. That last one is the practical reminder. Pulling a campaign does not pull the reposts.

The useful contrast sits in the same report. When Hindustan Unilever took Beco to the Delhi High Court over its War on What is Hidden campaign, the court ruled in Hindustan Unilever’s favour, found Beco had not established its claims as factual, and ordered the ads down. That is a decision on the merits. The Switch4 matter is not one, at least not yet. For the doctrine underneath both, see comparative advertising and disparagement in India.