From FabIndia to Tanishq, a look at brands that faced backlash on social media for their ads

Recently, consumer goods company Dabur and clothing brand FabIndia have been faced backlash and criticism for their advertisements.

Dabur on Monday withdrew an advertisement showing a same-sex couple celebrating the Hindu festival Karwa Chauth, hours after Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra warned of legal action against the firm.

pic.twitter.com/xUZmKvJffD

— Dabur India Ltd (@DaburIndia) October 24, 2021

The advertisement for Dabur’s beauty brand Fem showed two women performing the customary ritual between couples that involves looking at each other through a sieve.

Well done, Fem/Dabur!

A nice film for a traditional, often-criticized festival by an otherwise conservative brand. pic.twitter.com/gHBTca6jP8

— Abhishek Baxi (@baxiabhishek) October 22, 2021

Meanwhile, FabIndia has been at the receiving end of a lot of backlash ever since it brought out a Diwali-themed advertisement for a range of clothing collection and named it ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’.

The brand was accused of “defacing” the Hindu festival of Diwali and terming it Jashn-e-Riwaaz. Many slammed the brand for unnecessarily uplifting secularism and Muslim ideologies in a Hindu festival. The tweet was described by several sections of social media as “culturally inappropriate”.

Also read: Outrage against Fabindia's Diwali ad shows there's no longer such thing as 'any publicity is good publicity

After BJP leader Tejaswi Surya slammed the brand for ‘deliberate attempt of Abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, the advertisement also received a lot of flak for not portraying the models in ‘Hindu traditional clothes’.

Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz...Period!!!
Seems like Fab India has done this deliberately to hurt Hindu Sentiment. #BoycottFabIndia pic.twitter.com/oczgyUlmIF

— Rajkumar MLA (@rajkumarmla1) October 18, 2021

However, this is not the first time advertisements have been headlines in India. In the past few years, there have been several ads that have received backlash on social media. Here's a look at some of them:

1.Tanishq ad

Last year, a Tanishq ad on interfaith marriage triggered a furious backlash on social media with some accusing the jewellery brand of promoting 'love jihad', prompting the company to withdraw the film citing hurt sentiments and the well-being of its staff.

The 43-second commercial, which led to the hashtag #BoycottTanishq trending on Twitter, shows a pregnant woman being led to her bridal shower, a Hindu custom called 'godh bharai', by a woman who viewers later realise is her mother-in-law.

The description of the video on YouTube read: She is married into a family that loves her like their own child. Only for her, they go out of their way to celebrate an occasion that they usually don't. A beautiful confluence of two different religions, traditions, cultures."

The commercial opened the floodgates of debate and trolling with a flurry of tweets, some angry and threatening, demanding a ban on the advertisement and a boycott of the brand, a Tata product.

So Hindutva bigots have called for a boycott of ⁦@TanishqJewelry⁩ for highlighting Hindu-Muslim unity through this beautiful ad. If Hindu-Muslim “ekatvam” irks them so much, why don’t they boycott the longest surviving symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity in the world -- India? pic.twitter.com/cV0LpWzjda

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 13, 2020

Also read: Tanishq ad backlash strips India's veneer of pluralism, propped up by television, film programming of decades past

2. Surf Excel ad

Another advertisement went viral for the wrong reasons last year. Surf Excel was severely criticised for an ad showing Hindu-Muslim unity.

The HUL-owned brand, which is known for its "daag achhe hai" (stains are good) ads, tried to do something similar recently with its latest Holi special "Rang Laaye Sang" (colours bring us together) campaign. Under this campaign, the brand released an advertisement in a bid to promote Hindu-Muslim unity. The advertisement ends with Surf Excel's classic tagline "daag acche hain".

While those criticising the ad used #BoycottSurfExcel to share their messages, supporters also made #SurfExcel trend on Twitter. Critics of the ad perceived it as "Hindu phobic" and "controversial" and believed that it wants to showcase that "namaaz is more important than Holi". Supporters, however, labelled those outraging against Surf Excel as 'The Cult of Stupidity'.

The outrage over this Surf Excel ad by Hindutvawadis on the day elections have been announced is a testimony to how the country has regressed in the past 5 years. pic.twitter.com/Z8a4x8yPsO

— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) March 10, 2019

3. Amul ad

Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) — which makes Amul brand of food products — found its Twitter account blocked on the evening of 4 June, 2020 evening. The account was restored on 5 June.

Twitter was abuzz with several users expressing shock, while many questioned its move to restrict the account. Twitterati linked the restriction of Amul's account with the brand's campaign supporting boycott of Chinese products. The brand figured among trending topics in India even on Saturday with over 11,500 tweets.

In the campaign, Amul's iconic girl in white and red polka dots dress is seen fighting a dragon that is carrying a ''Made in China'' placard. The picture mentions TikTok (a Chinese short video platform).

The creative carries a tagline ''Amul Made In India'' referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for self-reliant India.

The Amul ad targetting China. Image courtesy: @Amul_Coop

4. Manyavar ad

A wedding advertisement by clothing brand Manyavar-Mohey has become the talking point on Twitter last month.  Earlier last month, the hashtag #BoycottManyavar trended on Twitter in the Indian region.

The backlash from an advertisement that features Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt for the clothing brand. Manyaavar in India is primarily directed at men’s sherwanis, kurtas for wedding fashion, while the female-equivalent of the brand, under the name ‘Mohey’ targets women’s bridal fashion.

In the latest advertisement, where Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt is shown at a Hindu wedding ‘mandap’ awaiting the rituals before the marriage is considered finalized, the ad particularly focuses on how often girls in India are considered a burden and sometimes seen as just a liability to only marry off.

Even though the ad intended to address the sexism present in the practice, a section of Twitter saw the ad as an attack on Hindu wedding rituals by calling the practice of Kanya-daan in itself regressive.

5. Zomato ad

Back in 2017, a huge billboard with a Zomato advertisement faced criticism for its wordplay after a very upset socialite Suhel Seth posted a picture of an advertisement by the restaurant-aggregator company with the abbreviations ‘MC, BC’ (both popular initialisms for Hindi cuss words) in bold text. People had taken to social media responding to the word-game the company has indulged in, on the poster. While some have lauded Zomato’s wit, others have chimed in with Seth’s disapproval at the implication of profanity on a mass medium.

Shame on you @ZomatoIN ! Absolutely shameful what you’ve attempted to do. Your investors should be sickened by your behaviour! @smritiirani : this is outrageous. @ascionlinepic.twitter.com/pSChhHSrxo

— SUHEL SETH (@Suhelseth) November 30, 2017

6. Mankind Pharma ad

In Surat and other cities in Gujarat, a hoardings campaign by the company Mankind Pharma to mark the Navratri festivities featured Sunny Leone, faced heavy backlash.

The campaign, which had gone up with the tagline, "Aa Navratrie ramo parantu prem thi (This Navratri, play, but with love)," was pulled down following a traders' body protest. It attracted massive criticism and anger from the masses, who demanded immediate withdrawal of the posters and hoardings.

The Sunny Leone advertisement which created a controversy. Image courtesy: Twitter/ @PTInews

7. Kent RO ad

Last year, during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, water purifier brand Kent RO withdrew its controversial ad, issuing an apology after it received massive backlash on social media for depicting domestic help as coronavirus infection carriers.

The advertisement was for its atta and bread maker that said, "are you allowing your maid to knead atta dough by hand? Her hands may be infected." It went on to urge people not to "compromise on health and purity" and chose the company's atta maker instead.

The ad featuring Bollywood superstar and BJP MP Hema Malini and her daughter Esha Deol backfired for Kent with many denouncing it as being "classist", "misogynist" and "discriminatory".

This is social distancing in India. It always existed!! Tragic that ad agencies and manufacturers can get it SO wrong! #Kentpic.twitter.com/okVeyKb4m1

— Sanjoy K Roy (@SanjoyRoyTWA) May 26, 2020

8. Jawed Habib ad

In 2017, a case was filed against celebrity hairstylist Jawed Habib for “insulting and demeaning” Hindu gods in a newspaper advertisement. The ad showed gods getting their hair done, counting money and wearing make-up at a Jawed Habib salon. A caption said, “Gods too visit JH Salon”.

Two complaints were lodged in #Hyderabad on #JawedHabib Hair Saloon for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments in advt, JW asks apologise later pic.twitter.com/UwGlymx5BF

— Journalist Kavitha (@iamKavithaRao) September 8, 2017

9. Tanishq Diwali ad

In what seems like a deja vu, jewellery brand Tanishq took down yet another ad after the Twitter outrage.

Tanishq, in a Diwali-special advertisement, got actors Neena Gupta, Nimrat Kaur, Sayani Guta and Alaya F together to speak about the festival of lights. Except, actor Sayani Gupta's message of urging people to celebrate a cracker-free Diwali doesn't seem to have gone down too well with a section of Twitter users.

Some people criticised Tanishq for its 'advice' on how to celebrate Diwali. Some others, however, also defended Tanishq.

The Diwali advertisement featured actors Neena Gupta, Nimrat Kaur, Sayani Gupta and Alaya F.(Twitter/@TanishqJewelry)

10. Ceat Tyres ad

Recently, superstar Aamir Khan is facing the ire of netizens after his recent commercial faced backlash. The actor recently featured in the advertisement of a tyre manufacturing company, where he advises people to not burn crackers on roads as it can cause harm to vehicles.

A Karnataka-based MP has written to the CEO of Ceat Tyres, questioning the burning of crackers on roads, when offering Namaaz often blocks many roads.

In a letter to the company's MD and CEO Anant Vardhan Goenka, he requested him to take cognisance of the recent advertisement creating an "unrest among the Hindus", and expressed hope in future the organisation will respect the "Hindu sentiment".