Toothpaste becomes tariff battleground
U.S.-India tensions spill into company ads
by: Praveen Paramasivam
Reuters
CHENNAL - Dabur, India rival of Colgate-Palmolive, is making its toothpaste a test of nationalism by asking consumers to shun American brands as companies intensify promotion of local goods amid worsening trade ties with the United States.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 4 [2025] reiterated his call to use "Swdeshi," or made-in-India goods. children should "make a list" of foreign-branded goods, Modi said, while teachers should push them to not use them.
..... President Donald Trump in August [2025] imposed tariffs of up to 50% on imported Indian goods, prompting Modi's supporters st start a WhatsApp campaign to boycott American brands, including McDonald's Pepsi and Apple.
..... Consumer goods company Dabur, valued at$11 billion, tool out a front-page newspaper advertisement last week [08/30/2025] carrying photos of unbranded toothpaste packs that resemble Colgate packaging. Without naming its rival, the ad said India's favorite toothpaste brand was American, and Dabur was the "Swadeshi" choice.
..... "Born there, not here," it said, referring to the unnamed toothpaste, in a font styled with the red, white and blue of the American flag.
..... Dabur declined to comment on the advertisement, and Colgate did not respond to queries from Reuters.
..... Colgate has a 43% share of India's toothpaste market, followed by the Indian unit of Unilever, home to Pepsodent brand in the country. Dabur is in third place with a 17% share, according to Euromonitor data for 2024.
..... India's population of 1.4 billion is a major market for American consumer goods, often purchases form U.S. Online retailer Amazon.com , and over the eyars the reach of U.S. brands has expanded deep inot smaller towns.
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The Dabur ad in the Times of India even carried a QR code that took consumers to a shopping link on the Amazon India website, which captures about a third of domestic Online sales.
..... Others using a similar tactic included Amul, India's largest dairy, and Indian e-mail provider Rediff, which was popular years ago before the rise of Yahoo and Google Mail.