"If you are happy and you know it clap your hands!"
Haha, you guys might be thinking that why am I even singing this song! By the way, How many of you remember this song? I believe most of you already do. Childhood memories right! You know in fact I created my version of this song. Wanna hear it? Of course you do!
"If you are liberal and you are lazy clap your hands!"
Well of course, you are true liberal, it's just that you are too lazy.
Well now coming to the point on why I am talking about the term liberal is because The very famous and reputed Jewelry shop Tanishq is facing severe backlash online due to the advertisement. #BoycottTanishq has been running all throughout the social media.
What was the Ad?
The Ad was released on October 9, which shows a Muslim family organising a baby shower for their Hindu daughter-in-law who is obviously pregnant. The Ad was meant to portray a beautiful relationship between different two religions,traditions and cultures. Tanishq meant to show that the daughter-in-law is considered as a daughter by their in laws and only for her they decided to celebrate an occasion that they generally don't.
The whole concept of ad was taken in a wrong way. The trollers out there started using the hashtag because apparently, the ad showed interfaith couple celebrating a baby shower promoting "Jihad". To me this sounds bummer. For a country which shows it's pride on culture diversity, promoting peace and showing itself Secular, does outrage upon the ad which eventually has a positive outlook. Have we seriously become that intolerant of ads which show peace and turned heads towards hostility?
As soon as the Ad was released, it went viral on the internet, and you could see how the citizens where slamming it for promoting interfaith marriage. Some also questioned the why is only Hindu women married into a muslim and it is not the other way around.
Infact few well known public figures also stated that "it not only does promote Love Jihad but also sexism". Now, when I saw the ad I did not find even a bit of Sexism. So really, I believe it's the eyesight. You know people who usually see the half empty glass would normally try to take out looks from every here and there. Sad but true. It promotes Communal Harmony!
If anything, the ad shows the Hindu woman being able to subscribe to her faith even after marriage. Ask yourself, Does it not promote the power of union among both the cultures that to through love? Don't you think this gives us a strong message to end the Hindu-Muslim riots and violence. It gives the idea to think about the scope for both communities to respectfully co-exist? The message of communal harmony in their ad was given at the end "One as a nation. One as Humanity. Ekatvam".
After the ad's release, Titan and Tata, also got affected and was directly slipped into the controversy. Many started boycotting the brands like Voltas. Moreover, Bollywood actors like Deepika Padukone had to face a backlash for promoting the brand. We are moving forward as a tolerant society and in the upcoming years I believe that if we keep on supporting the wrong things and raise our voice against the right things it would definitely leave to downfall. Are we today so blinkered by hyper- Nationalist agendas that we have forgotten what it was to be peaceful?
This is not the only ad which has been caught in controversy, there have been dozens of ads which create these storms. Even Surf excel faced backlash for the Holi ad which again showed Hindu-Muslim harmony between kids. People also stated that it was promoting "Love Jihad". Now seriously, Kids are promoting?First see the ad and then put baseless accusations on them. This has become a trend. I guess we as a nation , we who promote Secularism are that Intolerant of Communal harmony. It is very important to understand the message behind ads like these. They shower love everywhere, they try to put a smile on your face.
Such ads exist because they are popular, because people want to hear about them. They also exist because we need brands to showcase that they are indeed secular. And so there are still people out there living in the hope that communal furies and fears would subside; that the idea of religious co-existence should be but natural; that beyond the world of trolls and hate speech, goodness might still prevail.
After being trolled for the ad throughout the day, Tanishq finally decided to pull it down. Do you think you conquered something? No and if you think you did then it's your loss. You gained nothing. All you gained was more hatred. Trust me hatred does not lead you to anywhere but will make you fall. SEE, THINK AND THEN REACT. This does not even set a right precedent! Tanishq's move to pull down the ad won't make you right. Clearly being praised by one section of social media for delivering a message of harmony and love was not enough. The pressure and hatred got to Tanishq, and that sums up how social media, mindset and people works in our country today.
Comments
Post a Comment