Tanishq, India’s biggest jewellery brand co-owned by the Tatas, has pulled down an advertisement that it launched for Diwali. This is the second time in less than a month that the jewellery brand took down its advertisement after launching it, and then being criticised for it on social media.
The ad was released as part of the brand’s Ekatvam (oneness) collection for the festive season, featuring Bollywood actors Neena Gupta, Sayani Gupta, Alaya F and Nimrat Kaur. In the ad, one of them mentions about their Diwali plans supporting a ban on firecrackers.
Less than a month ago, the jewellery brand faced severe outrage on Twitter by a section of netizens over a commercial that advocated inter-faith marriages.
Following the latest ad showing their support to ban firecrackers during Diwali, something that many state governments have already put in place, the jewellery brand got much hate on social media platforms. Several Twitter users criticised the commercial and accused it of trying to 'preach' how to celebrate Diwali. Several of them accused the brand of trying to polarise its consumers based on religious lines. Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri came down heavily on the commercial and accused the advertisement of trying to "kill tradition".
It took no time for #BoycottTanishq to start trending on Twitter.
However, like everything else on social media, outrage in endless. With Tanishq pulling down the ad, many social media users had a snarky comment or two about the way the brand functions-- now given their history of deleting ads. Many on social media questioned why exactly would the brand keep releasing advertisements, only to pull it down every time they face threats and criticisms.
Requesting Tanishq to submit scrips of next ten advertisements to RW loonies to avoid the embarrassment of deleting them. And also for Mr Ratan Tata to apply for a spine
— Ajay Kamath (@ajay43) November 9, 2020
Tanishq released one more Ad. RW boycotted it again. Tanishq took down the Ad again.Why don't they just stop advertising if they lack the spine to stand by their Ads.
— Saniya Sayed (@Ssaniya_) November 9, 2020
how does the Tanishq spine dissolve to jelly twice in a row? If you can't stand up for what you believe in, then don't go out in public stating it.
— Harini Calamur (#StayHome) (@calamur) November 10, 2020
Is this happening for REAL? @TanishqJewelryWhere the hell is your spine, man? I watched the ad at least 5 times to understand how this is blasphemous or wrong on any grounds?Because they say this Diwali, no firecrackers? Are you kidding me?#TanishqAdhttps://t.co/WxzNCz4fWe
— nayandeep rakshit (@NayandipRakshit) November 9, 2020
Tanishq had faced outrage at a much larger scale a month ago after an advertisement from the same collection showed an inter-faith couple. It had stirred a storm on social media, so much that the commercial was pulled down. The backlash had intensified to threatening the lives of its employees. A store in Gujarat's Gandhidham was coerced into tendering an apology.