Days after the clothing brand FabIndia received a massive backlash for its advertisement for the Jashn-e-Riwaaz collection, now Aamir Khan’s advertisement for CEAT linking Diwali festival is under scrutiny.
In the past few years, social media has witnessed several religious controversies over advertisements by big brands in India. Let’s take a look back at the list of controversies revolving around advertisements.
Tanishq ad on an inter-faith ad on Ekatvam
In October 2020, Tanishq released an advertisement for Ekatvam jewellery wherein Muslim in-laws were seen organising a baby shower for their Hindu daughter-in-law. It showed that the family decides to celebrate the ritual only for her. As soon as the ad was released, a section of social media accused the ad of promoting love jihad and demanded the brand to pull down the ad. After facing severe backlash, Tanishq took down the ad on October 12 from all social media platforms.
Manforce condoms ad
This ad featured Bollywood actor Sunny Leone and it came out during the Hindu festival, Navratri. It created a huge public outrage in Gujarat and people demanded the Centre ban outdoor advertisements relating to contraceptive brands in the state. The condom brand had to pull down the ad after the outrage gained momentum.
Alia Bhatt’s Mohey ad on Kanyadan
The brand new advertisement of Manyavar Mohey featured Alia Bhatt. In the advertisement, Alia can be seen questioning the Hindu marriage ritual Kanyadaan, where a family gives their daughters to another family. Alia further questions the conventional Hindu wedding that believes in giving away their daughters after marriage. The advertisement received flak from tweeple who believed it to be anti-Hindu propaganda.
Fabindia Jashn-e-Riwaaz ad
On October 9, the homegrown clothing brand Fabindia was massively trolled for using an Urdu word in an advertisement relating to the Hindu festival, Diwali. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya expressed his displeasure over the ad and called it as Abrahamisation of Hindu festivals. Followed by his tweet, a section of social media started calling out the ad which led to its withdrawal by the brand.
Aamir Khan’s CEAT ad on Diwali
On Thursday, October 21, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anantkumar Hegde expressed his displeasure over the tyre brand advertisement that features Bollywood actor Aamir Khan. The MP wrote a letter to CEAT MD & CEO Anant Vardha Goenka wherein he lauded the message behind the ad and also reminded him of the issue of blocking roads during Namaz on Fridays.