A Tanishq advertisement campaign after right wing trolls claimed that the video propagated “love jihad”.
The ad showed a pregnant Hindu woman being escorted by her Muslim mother in law for her baby shower ceremony according to Hindu rituals.
#BoycottTanishq trended all of Monday, with Tanishq finally withdrawing the ad for its collection called ‘ekatvam’.
This isn’t the first time an advertisement that has prortrayed Hindu Muslim unity that has been trolled after the Modi government came to power.
Another advertisement by Surf Excel for Holi riled up right wing trolls in 2019. The detergent brand had faced backlash for its ad on two children from different religions.
The trolling may be new, but India has had a long tradition of video campaigns that encourage unity in a country that is as diverse as India. Be it ‘Ek, anek aur ekta’ released by the Films Division of India in 1974, or the iconic ‘Mile sur mera tumhara’, videos that promoted national integration were pretty common, and emulated by advertisers when TV ads became a thing.
Here are some of them: