The jewelry brand Tanishq took down its advertisement about a Muslim family preparing for a baby shower for their Hindu daughter-in-law after it received criticism on social media. A decision which was not welcomed by many.
Calls to boycott the company over the advertisement took over social media with some accusing the brand of promoting “Love Jihad”.
The ad, which was put up with the tagline: “A beautiful confluence of two different religions, traditions and cultures”, was taken down minutes after it went live. The brand even withdrew the advertisement from television channels after outrage. In a statement on Tuesday, Tanishq said it withdrew the ad due to “hurt sentiments, and the well-being of our employees, partners and store staff”.
Several people criticised the jewelry brand’s withdrawal of advertisement, saying that the company was succumbing to extremists.
“Its capitulation points to the pervasive atmosphere of fear and intimidation that some have unleashed in the country,” Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said.
Now India’s top advertising bodies, The Advertising Club has come out in support of the brand and said that the advertisement does not break any “ethical standards, is not derogatory to any person, organisation or religion and done not hurt any national sentiment.”
{{/usCountry}}Now India’s top advertising bodies, The Advertising Club has come out in support of the brand and said that the advertisement does not break any “ethical standards, is not derogatory to any person, organisation or religion and done not hurt any national sentiment.”
{{/usCountry}}“Such baseless and irrelevant attack on creative expression is extremely concerning and we together stand by the team of Tanishq and against such aggression,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
“After review by our internal team consisting of multi-sectoral experts, we have come to a clear consensus that the advertisement breaks no ethical standards, is not derogatory to any person, organisaton or religion and done not hurt any national sentiment,” the statement read.
“In continuance with its tradition, the Advertising Club upholds the primacy of creative freedom as a fundamental right of the Marketing and Advertising-fraternity and hence disapprove of the approach to stymie that freedom,” it further said.