The solution
Hair loss is one of the biggest personal-care anxieties in India, and the shampoo aisle answers it with extravagant promises — most of them quietly neutralised by a tiny asterisk reading 'Conditions Apply'. Sebamed, the German personal-care brand sold in India by USV, had built its positioning on pH 5.5 science and blunt comparative advertising, and needed a way to press that honesty advantage without making yet another shampoo commercial.
The Womb's answer was a satirical courtroom film. The 'Conditions Apply' disclaimer itself, personified by actor Lilliput, stands trial before a judge played by Ratna Pathak Shah. He pleads not guilty and puts the blame squarely on the haircare brands that use him to hide the truth from consumers. The agency deliberately broke every category convention — no beauty shots, no product demo, no false claim — and closed with Sebamed's own 'No Conditions Apply' promise.
The spot continued Sebamed's combative campaign series (#FilmstarsKiNahiSciencekiSuno, #SirfScienceKiSuno) that pushed consumers to question popular brands' claims. The Womb's Sebamed anti-hairloss work, entered as 'When a bald, dead man sold a shampoo brand', went on to become a finalist in Healthcare Products at the Effie India Awards 2024.
What it achieved
Put the asterisk itself in the dock, not the competitors
Why it worked
Prosecuting the disclaimer indicts every rival at once without comparative-ad legal risk
Deliberately dropping beauty shots and demos made honesty itself the creative idea
A beloved judge actress lent the satire credibility and watchability
It converted a category-wide consumer irritation — unreadable fine print — into brand positioning
What can be applied
When a whole category makes the same inflated claim, attack the claim format, not the competitors: prosecuting the fine print makes you the honest one without naming a rival.
Aftermath
The #NoConditionsApply film extended Sebamed's challenger campaign series in India, and the broader Sebamed anti-hairloss work by The Womb reached the finalist stage in Healthcare Products at the Effie India Awards 2024, announced in January 2025.
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