Honasa Consumer's Ghazal Alagh ignites fued with HUL's Lakmé over sunscreen 'plagiarism'

The sunscreen aisle just got hotter. In a bold (and short-lived) move, Ghazal Alagh co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Honasa Consumer Ltd.—the parent company of Mamaearth and The Derma Co.—accused Hindustan Unilever-owned Lakmé and Sunsilk of copying product formulations and packaging. The now-deleted social media post sparked a fresh wave of conversation in India’s fast-evolving skincare industry, where claims, counterclaims, and clinical tests are beginning to shape brand positioning as much as packaging does.

Alagh’s post featured a comparative list of product launch dates under the headline "OG versus Copy." She alleged that Lakmé 9to5 Sun Expert’s SPF 50 sunscreen mimicked The Derma Co.'s offering, Lakmé’s Vitamin C face wash resembled Mamaearth’s version, and Sunsilk’s onion shampoo was an imitation of Mamaearth’s popular onion range.

The post read: “We Honasa Consumer Ltd. put a lot of love, effort, and hard work into bringing true innovation to our consumers... Humble request to respect innovation and not plagiarise it.”

This isn’t the first time Alagh has taken a swipe at the personal care giant. Just days earlier, she had posted a visual of competing billboards from The Derma Co. and Lakmé placed side by side, welcoming Lakmé to what she dubbed the “SPF 50 club.” The post highlighted the rising pressure for legacy brands to match newer players’ commitment to scientific testing and clinical transparency—something Honasa has repeatedly spotlighted as its USP.

What began as a cheeky billboard placement is quickly morphing into a larger brand face-off between legacy and new-age beauty players. Lakmé’s new campaign for its SPF 50 sunscreen highlights the results of in-vivo testing—a clinical method increasingly becoming a gold standard in sunscreen efficacy. The brand claims its SPF 50 rating is validated by independent research, aiming to differentiate itself in a cluttered category where such claims often go unchecked.

HUL, in turn, has framed its campaign as a move toward greater transparency and consumer education, spotlighting inconsistencies in SPF claims across the industry. Lakmé’s multi-platform rollout on Instagram, YouTube, and OTT platforms is built around one core message: Not all SPF 50s are created equal.

In this evolving category, where consumers are becoming more label-literate and science-savvy, the competition now goes beyond clean-label ingredients to verifiable performance metrics. Alagh’s fiery post reflects a broader narrative shift: newer brands are no longer just disruptors—they’re shaping industry standards.

Even as tensions simmer, the upside may lie in how both legacy and insurgent players are being pushed to raise the bar, driving innovation, accountability, and ultimately, better products for Indian consumers.

Looks like the summer of 2025 won't just be about UV rays—it’s also the season of SPF wars.