India: Jewellery ad on interfaith couple withdrawn after bullying | India

Tanishq forced to pull down its advertisement promoting religious harmony after incessant trolling by India’s right-wing forces on social media.

Incessant social media trolling by right-wing forces has forced a popular jewellery brand in India to withdraw its advertisement featuring an interfaith couple.

The 40-second commercial, released by Tanishq last week, showed a pregnant Hindu bride attending a baby shower organised by her Muslim in-laws.

“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 and cultures,” the advertisement’s YouTube description said.

If anybody has a problem with this beautiful ad, don’t watch it and share it
pic.twitter.com/w6zGf6emTp

— Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) October 13, 2020

The advertisement was a part of Tanishq’s latest jewellery line called “Ekatvam”, Sanskrit word which means oneness, and was released ahead of the festival season marked by Durga Puja and Diwali, two of Hindu religion’s most important festivals.

But many social media users accused the company of promoting “love jihad”, a right-wing campaign that accuses Muslim men of luring Hindu women into marriage and converting them to Islam.

On Monday, the hashtag #BoycottTanishq trended on Indian social media, with a barrage of posts and comments on the YouTube video accusing the company of “hurting” the religious sentiments of the Hindu majority and demanded an apology.

Tanishq has officially withdrawn their ad after being trolled viciously. Here’s why this is a very sad state of affairs, and context from other such ads that were trolled (and some, withdrawn) https://t.co/Nb0cSiTPHX pic.twitter.com/sn3IMBqdmC

— Karthik (@beastoftraal) October 13, 2020

On Tuesday, Tanishq pulled the advertisement from the social media platforms, though the company has not released any statement on the matter yet.

“So Hindutva bigots have called for a boycott of @TanishqJewelryfor 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?” tweeted Congress party’s member of parliament, Shashi Tharoor.

Bollywood actress Divya Dutta, who had lent her voice to the advertisement, lamented its withdrawal. “It’s sad it’s taken off the air. I loved it,” she tweeted.

Yes it’s my voice. It s sad it’s taken off air. I loved it https://t.co/uWyPzbfHUd

— Divya Dutta (@divyadutta25) October 13, 2020

Many on social media also expressed their solidarity with Tanishq, a brand owned by Titan and promoted by the Tata Group in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, and wished the company had not given in to the bullying.

Journalist Barkha Dutt posted a tweet, referring to an Indian company that has refused to advertise with Indian news channels that promote religious hatred and asked why Tanishq could not have done the same.

Last week, automobile giant Bajaj Auto and Parle Products, India’s biggest biscuit maker, said they were pulling advertising from news channels that endorsed toxicity and hate-mongering.

“Rajiv Bajaj [promoter of Bajaj Auto] on one side and the surrender of Tanishq on the other. Difference between spine and supine,” Dutt posted.