Dalda
Dalda is a vegetable oil brand popular in South Asia.
History
Dalda was the name of the Dutch company that imported vanaspati ghee into India in the 1930s as a cheap substitute for desi ghee or clarified butter. In British India, desi ghee was considered an expensive product and not easily affordable for the common public and was used sparingly in Indian households, hence the need for a cheaper and more affordable substitute.In 1931, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company was incorporated to manufacture synthetic vanaspati ghee. Until the early 1930s, hydrogenated vegetable oil available in India was imported into the country by Hussein Dada and Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co. Hindustan Vanaspati wanted to start manufacturing hydrogenated vegetable oil locally and hence a new category of hydrogenated oil under the new brand name Dalda was born. Until then, Hussein Dada had been selling his imported product under the name Dada Vanaspati. He was asked for his cooperation by Lever Brothers to let the company insert the letter 'L' from Lever Brothers into the new brand name to make it Dalda. He agreed to the name change. Dalda was introduced in 1937, becoming one of the longest-running brands in India and Pakistan.
In 1939, The Dalda film was an advertisement created for the marketing campaign for a vanaspati brand called Dalda. Lintas created the India's first multi-media advertising campaign. Hindustan Vanaspati's "Dalda" product came to be synonymous with the genre, to the extent that the main style of hydrogenated vegetable oil is commonly designated generically as "vanaspati ghee". In 2003, Unilever announced the strategic decision to sell of the Dalda brand in both India and Pakistan.