I have sent a letter to HUL but there is no response till today 29th Aug.
To:
The Product Manager - Pureit Water Purifier,
Hindustan Unilever Limited, Unilever House,
B.D. Sawant Marg, Mumbai 400 099
Date: 8th August
Subject: Pureit 1 Cr Safety Challenge
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am from Pune, have always appreciated the marketing efforts that HUL (formerly HLL) has made to make its products highly acceptable and strongly loved brands for the society. I recently came across the Pureit 1 Crore Safety Challenge on TV and was thrilled to see it.
I am a ‘Tata Swach’ water purifier user since March and have been fully convinced with the performance of the water purifier. This motivated me to take the Pureit 1 Cr challenge especially since I saw the new campaign on TV “Unclaimed for 2 years”.
However, on visiting the website http://www.pureitwater.com/IN/, I found to my dismay that I cannot participate to claim Rs 1 crore as I had made the purchase in March. The conditions put in mention that the consumer has to purchase the unit on or before 31st December.
In my opinion this is completely misleading the consumers and I would request for an explanation on the application criteria (purchase on or before 31st December) and the airing of the challenge on TV in July.
If the challenge is being run in the month of July’2011 and would continue till Mar’2012 why is the condition of brand presence or advertising before Dec’2009 being put in?
Request you to kindly clarify this doubt and re-establish the high image of your esteemed company in this consumer’s mind.
Thanks & regards,
Paul
This is the attachment to above letter:
http://www.pureitwater.com/IN/.
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) agrees to pay Rs 1 crore to any claimant who can bring to it any Indian commercially manufactured and marketed in-home drinking water treatment unit (water purifier) which, after passing through the defined process of the Challenge, and under these terms and conditions, has all the features specified below, which HUL believes only the Pureit water purifier has:
• Meets USA's EPA stringent germ kill criteria. (For safe drinking water, USA's EPA germ kill criteria recommends log 6, log 4, and log 3 reduction of harmful bacteria, viruses & disinfectant resistant parasites respectively. This includes testing water to remove one crore viruses in every liter of water)
I agree that my in-home water purifier has this feature
• Has an ‘Auto Switch-off’ mechanism. This mechanism automatically shuts off the flow of water when the germ kill power of its consumables is over and needs replacement to prevent drinking of any unsafe water.
I agree that my in-home water purifier has this feature
• The ability to work all the time, without using any electricity or requiring a running tap water connection.
I agree that my in-home water purifier has this feature
Yes, I confirm that my in-home water purifier has ALL the above 3 safety features
However, post this, comes the terms and conditions section, which to my surprise clearly creates differentiation not in terms of the unique features of Pureit vis-à-vis its competitors but on time or area of launch or advertising. For example:-
“Any in-home water purifier offered in response to this challenge must be commercially sold in at least 5 cities with population of 1 million and above in India, on or before December 31, and continues to be sold during the period of this challenge. The product should also have been regularly advertised on national and regional TV during the six month period ending December 31. Television Audience Measurement (TAM) data shall be adopted as the basis for determining period and regularity of advertisements. The advertisement shall be specific to the claimants purifier under challenge and represent the above three features attached to the purifier.”
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