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      • Fabindia To Surf Excel: Ads That...
      Explainers

      Fabindia To Surf Excel: Ads That Faced Backlash Like Bharat Matrimony

      Bharat Matrimony came under attack on social media for its advertisement on Holi which it released on Wednesday.

      By - Hera Rizwan |
      Published -  10 March 2023 3:22 PM IST
    • Boomlive
      Fabindia To Surf Excel: Ads That Faced Backlash Like Bharat Matrimony

      A public service advertisement by Bharat Matrimony, a matrimonial platform, is the latest addition to the list of advertisements that created controversy over hurt religious sentiments.

      The online matrimonial platform came under attack on social media for its advertisement on Holi which it released on Wednesday. The ad features a woman washing off the Holi colours from her face, and as the colours begin to fade, bruises start to show up on her skin. And the captions read, "Some colours don't wash away easy. A third of women who've faced this trauma, have stopped playing Holi."

      Tweeting the 75 seconds video from its official Twitter handle, Bharat Matrimony asked for a more welcoming environment for women during Holi and acknowledged the need to draw attention to the challenges that women face in public places.

      This Women's Day & Holi, let's celebrate by creating safer and more inclusive spaces for women. It's important to acknowledge the challenges that women face in public spaces and create a society that truly respects their well-being - today & forever.#BharatMatrimony #BeChoosy pic.twitter.com/9bqIXZqaXu

      — Bharatmatrimony.com (@bharatmatrimony) March 8, 2023

      How did people react to the ad?

      Several Twitter users asked the matrimonial site to take down the ad as and called it 'anti-Hindu' for linking social issue with a Hindu festival. People demanded the company issue an apology.

      Are you guys shameless or what? Don't you want Hindu customers or you don't care about Hindu customers?

      Remove your ad from all your platforms and put an unconditional apology otherwise, a champion against your company will start by Hindus.

      — Vijay Patel🇮🇳 (@vijaygajera) March 8, 2023

      You guys are absolutely disgusting. How dare you link a social message with the Hindu festival of Holi. What has domestic abuse got to do with Holi?Have u lost your mind? You obviously don’t want Hindu customers. btw, u should focus on what happens on your awful site.

      — Priya Rana (@PriyaKumariRana) March 8, 2023

      #BHARATMATRIMONY Holi wish is #Hinduphobic and creating wrong false narrative to target #Hindu festival which bring joy and happiness. Where there are other religions where women’s are treated so badly but during other religion’s festivals they remain silent . #8MarchWomensDay 👩

      — Hitesh Prajapati सनातनी (@HiteshPrajapt7) March 8, 2023


      There were several others who criticised the backlash received by the Bharat Matrimony ad, and stood in favour of the message what the ad tried to convey.

      So Bharatmatrimony said don't harass using Holi as an excuse, and that is wrong?
      So we must harass?

      — Priyashmita (@priyashmita) March 8, 2023


      Thanks @bharatmatrimony for standing up for the cause of women safety and dignity during Holi or in public spaces in general. Please don't bog down to illogical hate that's been passed off as Hindutva. https://t.co/DVaelgqTNu

      — The Other Guy 🏳️‍🌈 (@aakashmehrotra) March 8, 2023

      I really appreciate @bharatmatrimony coming out with such a bold and yet sensitive advertisement .

      Also I fail to see how it hurts Hindu sentiments.

      Harassment during Holi is much more common the we think. pic.twitter.com/06LZUZcJeU

      — ketofol ☀️ (@aka911_) March 8, 2023

      Even after the online backlashes and calls for boycott, the ad is still available on the official twitter handle of Bharat Matrimony.


      Past instances of outrage over advertisements

      Advertisements on religious issues have been a controversial topic in India in the past as well, and have garnered extreme reactions. Here are some of them which were at the receiving end of the outcries for hurting the 'religious sentiments'.

      Surf Excel

      Detergent brand Surf Excel was caught in a Twitter rage over its Holi ad campaign, back in 2019. The ad revolved around Hindu-Muslim friendship, against the backdrop of Holi.

      With the theme "Rang Laaye Sang" (colours that bring us together), the one-minute ad shows a young girl dressed in white provoking children to splash her with Holi colours until they run out of them. The girl then gives her Muslim friend, who is wearing a crisp white kurta, an all-clear signal and leads him to the mosque for prayers. "Later it's your turn to get sprayed with colours," she tells him as she drops him off her bicycle.

      While many on social media applauded the company for spreading a message of peace and love between the two communities, the detergent brand owned by Hindustan Unilever received enormous criticism from others. Calls to boycott Surf Excel rose, claiming that the ad promoted love jihad. Some users registered their protest by returning their purchase order for the detergent.

      Ordered and refused SurfExcel... just to teach lesson to UniLever.... Shame on UniLever for promoting thier sale through Live Jihad pic.twitter.com/9CSEixHydz

      — Adv Gyanmurti Sharma (@SharmaGyanmurti) March 11, 2019

      #BoycottSurfExcel One of the worst Ad ever by Surf Excel. It should be rolled back and @HUL_News should apologize for hurting sentiment of our religion.#BoycottSurfExcel

      — Ramesh Kumar Saini (@sainiramesh515) March 11, 2019

      Even after the backlash, the ad was not pulled down and currently has 31 million views on Youtube.

      Fabindia

      In October 2021, a Diwali campaign by the clothing brand received severe backlash from Twitter users over naming its Diwali collection “Jashn-e-Riwaaz”, an Urdu phrase that translates to meaning a "celebration of customs". Several social media users called for a boycott of the company, claiming that the Urdu phrase had been used to hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community.

      Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz.
      Fab India has done this deliberately to hurt Hindu Sentiment. #BoycottFabIndia pic.twitter.com/3YwEhjcZWh

      — Himanshupatel_ (@ihimanshupatel_) October 19, 2021

      Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz.

      This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out.

      And brands like @FabindiaNews must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures. https://t.co/uCmEBpGqsc

      — Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) October 18, 2021

      Post the uproar, Fabindia took down the campaign and replaced it with its new 'Jhilmil si Diwali' campaign, which stood for the "homecoming and the anticipation of celebrating Diwali with loved ones".

      Tanishq jewellery

      An ad campaign for Tanishq’s collection called Ekatvam (oneness) was released in October 2020. The ad showed a Muslim family organising a traditional Hindu baby shower ceremony for their Hindu daughter-in-law. However, in no time many social media users called to boycott the brand as they accused the jewellery brand of promoting 'love jihad'.

      Interesting that in that nauseating #interfaith ad by @TanishqJewelry how the bride is shown Hindu, but the ‘रस्म’ is shown without ANY Hindu symbols, no Murti, no Pandit, no one from the bride’s family. Waiting for a similar ad where the bride is Muzlim and the family is Hindu!

      — Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳 (@ShefVaidya) October 13, 2020


      Tanishq jewellery's 'Ekatvam' series' ad projects a fictional 'interfaith' union, a Muslim family, a Hindu daughter-in-law being allowed to do a Hindu ritual.

      Nothing but promotion of love jihad on the same day Rahul Rajput was killed #BoycottTanishq https://t.co/QD46Sa32fB

      — Sanjay Dixit ಸಂಜಯ್ ದೀಕ್ಷಿತ್ संजय दीक्षित (@Sanjay_Dixit) October 12, 2020

      The outrage was not just limited to the social media. According to the reports, around six to seven persons had barged into a Tanishq franchise in Gandhidham, Kutch, before one of them wrote an apology on behalf of the store with a sketch pen on the noticeboard. Giving into the backlash, Tanishq pulled down the campaign the very next day of the release, and issued a statement, saying the company was "deeply saddened with the inadvertent stirring of emotions".


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