Kiara Advani and Aamir Khan’s latest advertisement for AU Small Finance Bank has been under fire from people all over.
This is not the first time an Indian brand's advertisement or an Indian celebrity has been under the scanner for such an advertisement. Here are a few occasions from the past:
Akshay Kumar
Recently, Akshay Kumar joined actors Ajay Devgn and Shah Rukh Khan in endorsing a pan masala brand. The actor, who is a fitness devotee, was mocked for his brand choice. Fans went belligerent on social media against the actor and mocked his choice of endorsement. After many backlashes, Kumar finally took to social media to apologise and subsequently excuse himself from the brand’s association.
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan courted a similar controversy for appearing in a paan masala campaign. The seasoned actor stated that he was unaware of the surrogate advertising and immediately returned his endorsement money. Amitabh Bachchan’s team had shared a statement that read, “A few days after the commercial was aired, Mr Bachchan contacted the brand and stepped out of it last week. Upon checking why this sudden move - it was revealed that when Mr Bachchan became associated with the brand, he wasn’t aware that it falls under surrogate advertising. Mr Bachchan has terminated the contract with the Brand, has written to them his termination and has returned the money received for the promotion.”
Madhuri Dixit
Madhuri Dixit landed in soup a few years ago when she appeared in an advertisement for a 2-minute noodle brand. The Uttarakhand Food and Drug Administration had written the actress a legal notice, requesting her to justify her statements regarding the 'nutrition value' of the food she had stated in the advertisement. PILs were also filed against Preity Zinta and Amitabh Bachchan for their promotion of this product.
Ranveer Singh
Ranveer Singh had appeared in a clothing company’s campaign. 'Don't hold back, Take your work home,' read the tagline and Singh was seen picking a girl on his shoulder. It was labelled as sexist, and the actor was thoroughly trolled on social media. He later apologised. “It was important to give the brand creative freedom while designing their campaign, but I guess we got it wrong on one of those billboards and I’m sorry this happened but it’s a thing of the past. We rectified it immediately by having that hoarding taken down ASAP from everywhere in over 30 cities overnight. I treat all women with the utmost respect both professionally and personally and would never do anything to disrespect them,” he had said in a statement.
Alia Bhatt
Alia Bhatt, who recently got married to actor Ranbir Kapoor, was seen in a wedding apparel commercial campaign for Manyavar a few months ago. The actress in the advertisement is seen criticising the practice of 'kanyadaan’, wondering whether she is something to give away. People on social media didn’t take this lightly and trolled the actress and the advertisement for offending religious sensibilities. The advertisement sparked an online debate and there were people who even appreciated the different take on rites and traditional customs. But there was a huge section of the audience that was grossly disappointed by the advertisement.
Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra was the face of Nirav Modi’s jewellery brand, but once the jeweller was implicated in a multi-billion-dollar scam, the actress was massively trolled online for doing endorsing the brand. Soon afterwards, she severed relations with the brand. It was later revealed that Nirav Modi had fled the country and that he had engaged in fraudulent transactions worth around Rs 11,400 crore. Priyanka Chopra distanced herself from the brand’s business. Her spokesperson had told ANI then, “In light of recent allegations, Priyanka Chopra has chosen to terminate her contract with the Nirav Modi brand.”
Fab India
Fab India was accused recently of showcasing Diwali in a different way and terming it Jashn-e-Riwaaz. Many slammed the brand for this campaign. People started saying that the brand was unnecessarily uplifting secularism by adding a Muslim touch to a Hindu festival while they would never try to do the same if the religions and festivals were reversed.
Shah Rukh Khan
Shah Rukh Khan has also been slammed for his involvement with the Fair and Handsome fairness cream brand. Netizens trolled him for appearing in multiple adverts for a fairness lotion. Even though SRK has never openly talked about why he picked up the brand, his fans were mighty disappointed at him for choosing to promote a brand that allegedly equated success to skin colour. Not just SRK, but his daughter Suhana Khan was also ridiculed on social media when she discussed colourism in a post and disclosed that she had been branded ugly since she was 12 years old. Netizens slammed her social media post as hypocritical.
Vicky Kaushal-Rashmika Mandanna
Vicky Kaushal and Rashmika Mandanna starred in an underwear commercial for a popular brand a few months back. Kaushal is featured in the advertisement enjoying a yoga lesson with instructor Mandanna. Kaushal's shirt rises up as she instructs pupils to extend their hands to perform an asana, revealing his underwear strap. This excites her, and she begins counting slowly. Netizens criticised the commercial for objectifying Kaushal and labelled it cheap. Both celebrities were trolled massively for being involved in such a promotional tactic.
Tanishq
A few months back, Tanishq had come up with an ad campaign called Ekatvam. The ad soon became a prime candidate for trolling online. The ad showed a Hindu woman who was pregnant. She was being escorted by her Muslim mother-in-law for a ceremony for a baby shower. The would-be-mom tells her mother-in-law that the ceremony isn’t part of their traditions and wasn’t held at their home. To this, the mom-in-law reverts saying that a tradition of keeping their daughters happy is prevalent everywhere. While the advertisement tried to promote secularism, many trolled the advertisement for promoting inter-religious marriages. Many even questioned why in such situations it's always a Hindu woman marrying a Muslim man whereas the other way around with the roles reversed is never shown onscreen.
Shot
A few months ago, perfume brand Layer’s range called Shot came under the scanner for a few advertisements. 'Shot' attracted outrage for rape insinuations in their plot lines. In one ad, three men enter a room in which a man and a woman are there. One of them asked, "I believe you have taken the shot." "Yes, I have," replied the man with the woman. Then one of those who entered said "Now it's our turn" and walks ahead, immediately discomforting the woman, but he goes past her and picks up the perfume bottle, following which the woman gets a sigh of relief. There were similar advertisements by the brand which were criticised for their sexual and rape-related insinuations.
