An old photo from a 2011 ad for epilators, showing a woman dressed in traditional Rajasthani attire of a ghagra choli but cut to look into a mini skirt is being shared with the false claim that it is one of the top three outfits chosen by a Kerala college in a competition.
The photo is being shared claiming that the Kerala college mocked Indian and Hindu culture. The ghagra choli is a long flared skirt and blouse traditionally worn by women in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The photo depicts the Rajasthani style of the ghagra choli but shows it cut up and made into a mini skirt.
The viral photo is being shared on X and Facebook with the caption claiming that the outfit won third price at a college competition in Kerala.
The text in Hindi translates to, "It was selected in the top 3 in a dress competition at a college function in Kerala. Who is the biggest enemy of a woman?? Man, society, petty traditions or some curse...?? And proved those petty traditions, those dwarf rituals right..It is such women who sow the seeds of disgusting mentality in society...."
(In Hindi - केरल में एक कॉलेज फंक्शन के ड्रेस कंपटीशन में इसे टॉप 3 में चुना गया. स्त्री का सबसे बड़ा शत्रु कौन है?? पुरुष, समाज, ओछी परम्परायें या कोई श्राप...? नहीं... इनकी सबसे बड़ी शत्रु हैं, खुद स्त्री ही हैे, वो स्त्री जिनको अवसर दिए गए उड़ने के, और उन्होंने गलत सिद्ध किया अवसर देने वालों को ही!....)
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral photo is from a April 2011 ad for epilators for the electronics and appliances company Morphy Richards.
We ran a reverse image search on the viral photo using Google Lens and found results dating back to 2011 showing that the picture was part of an ad shoot.
We also found the photo on advertisements archiving website Adsspot which captioned the photo as a print ad from April 2011 and credited the photographer as Amol Jadhav.
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Additionally, in the original photo we can see the brand name on the top right corner - Morphy Richards epilators. The same has been edited out of the viral photo to make the false claim that it is from a college dress competition in Kerala.
The photo also shows the scissors and the remainder of the skirt lying on the floor, focusing on the woman's legs all of it an indication that it is an ad for epilators, a body hair removal device.
We also found a detailed description for the ad on the website 'Ads of the World' which read, "This professional campaign titled 'Girl in a saree, Girl from Rajasthan' was published in India in April, 2011. It was created for the brand: Morphy Richards, by ad agency: Contract. This Print medium campaign is related to the Electronics, Technology industry and contains 2 media assets. It was submitted about 13 years ago"
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Additonally, the claim does not mention any specifics of which region or the name of the college in Kerala. We also did not find any credible news reports from Kerala about such an attire worn by a student.