Jewellery brand Tanishq, after removing their advertisement on interfaith ceremony from YouTube, has released a statement on the ongoing controversy.
TANISHQ’S STATEMENT:
The statement released by Tanishq spokesperson read, “The idea behind the Ekatvam campaign is to celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life, local communities and families during these challenging times and celebrate the beauty of oneness. This film has stimulated divergent and severe reactions, contrary to its very objective. We are deeply saddened with the inadvertent stirring of emotions and withdraw this film keeping in mind the hurt sentiments and well-being of our employees, partners and store staff.”
You can watch the ad here:
Tanishq has officially withdrawn their ad after being trolled viciously. Here’s why this is a very sad state of affairs, and context from other such ads that were trolled (and some, withdrawn) https://t.co/Nb0cSiTPHX pic.twitter.com/sn3IMBqdmC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
WHAT IS THE TANISHQ AD ALL ABOUT?
On Monday, Tanishq had released an advertisement of their new jewellery line that was titled Ekatvam, to celebrate “unity in oneness”. The advertisement featured a young pregnant woman, escorted to the garden at her residence by her mother-in-law for her baby shower ceremony. In the video, the young woman was surprised to see that the ceremony was organised as per Hindu rituals. She then asks her mother-in-law, “But this ceremony is not celebrated at your place, isn’t it?” With a gracious smile, her mother-in-law replies, “The ceremony to make the daughter happy is held in every house, isn’t it?”
WHY WAS TANISHQ TROLLED FOR THE EKATVAM AD?
On Twitter, certain sections, mostly Right Wing, accused the jewellery brand of promoting what they called ‘Love Jihad’ through the commercial video. Filthy language was used against Tanishq as several users vowed to refrain from visiting their store henceforth.
After severe trolling, Tanishq removed the ad from YouTube, much to the dismay of several sections, who asserted that the jewellery brand should not have conceded defeat.
Later, in an angry post, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also lashed out at “Hindutva bigots” for boycotting Tanishq over the advertisement. He wrote, “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? (sic).”
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