An innocuous ad dubbed ‘love jihad’! Tanishq chickens out after trolls! Sad, says VIACOM CEO!
It was a matter of a religious twist to an innocuous ad and a strong brand such as Tanishq bowing down to the trolls and removing the ad.
People are astonished both at the fanaticism and also at the cowardly and unwarranted act of Tanishq!
Hence, many strong-minded celebrities have spoken against the trolls and felt sad that Tanishq decided to bow down to the online nonsense!
The new ad of Tanishq, the famous jewelry brand
Tanishq is the famous jewelry brand of the House of Tatas. To promote its new jewelry brand called Ekatvam, the company released a new ad on 9 October 2020.
The video was 45 seconds in duration. It was a Muslim family making preparations for a traditional South Indian baby shower for their daughter-in-law who was Hindu. In the description of this YouTube ad video, the brand put these words:
“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, cultures.”
The trolls for the innocuous ad
No sooner was this ad released, than several social media users called for a ban on the ad. Moreover, they also asked people to boycott the company Tanishq.
The people who trolled the ad included authors such as Shefali Vaidya and Sanjay Dixit. Additionally, the video got more dislikes than likes. 2000 people disliked it and only 500 liked it.
Also, people dubbed it as Love Jihad. The radical Hindu groups of India coined this term to accuse Muslim men of a conspiracy to convert Hindu women after they marry them!!!
After this severe backlash, the company first linked to the video private on 12 October and ultimately pulled down the ad the next day. So fanaticism won!!!
The lament of the pro-unity celebrities
Secular-minded celebrities were neither in favor of nor happy with Tanishq pulling down the ad. Therefore, communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan tweeted:
“Tanishq has officially withdrawn their ad after being trolled viciously. Here’s why this is a very sad state of affairs, and context from other such ads that were trolled (and some, withdrawn) https://bit.ly/ekatvam”
Tanishq has officially withdrawn their ad after being trolled viciously. Here's why this is a very sad state of affairs, and context from other such ads that were trolled (and some, withdrawn) https://t.co/Nb0cSiTPHX pic.twitter.com/sn3IMBqdmC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
Similarly, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said:
“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?”
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? pic.twitter.com/cV0LpWzjda
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 13, 2020
Additionally, the former CEO of Viacom and currently managing director of House of Cheer Networks Raj Nayak lamented:
“This is really sad! How can a brand as strong as Tanishq from the House of Tata’s chicken out based on trolls?”
Image and communications consultant Dilip Cherian felt that the brand did an unwarranted move and bowed down unnecessarily.
Such unnecessary nervousness doesn’t become a mature @TanishqJewelry surely? Remember where we started creating the #tanishq image, it was pan-community? Agree @rajcheerfull , @AmanKayamHai_ET & @beastoftraal & hope they recognize that trolls actually don’t equal #customers 😖 https://t.co/esZqXMuFAd
— dilip cherian (@DILIPtheCHERIAN) October 13, 2020
The jewelry brand has yet to give its statement on the whole matter!
Source: Greater Kashmir, Twitter
