AAAI condemns targeting of Tanishq ad, calls it matter of great concern

The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) on Wednesday condemned the targeting of Tanishq and its employees for its recent ad that featured an interfaith couple. While the jewellery brand has withdrawn the ad campaign, AAAI has called it a matter of 'great regret and concern'. Tanishq, the jewellery brand owned by Titan Group, had released an ad campaign for its Ekatvam by Tanishq series. The ad featured a Muslim family preparing for a traditional baby shower for their Hindu daughter-in-law.

While the ad was lauded by many for portraying Hindu-Muslim harmony, it also irked a large online population, who called it out for promoting 'love jihad'. As #BoycottTanishq started trending online, some executives of Tanishq started receiving online threats, which made Tanishq pull it down. “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,” Tanishq said. “The idea behind the campaign was to celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life, local communities and families during these challenging times. This film has stimulated divergent and severe reactions, contrary to its very objective.”

In its statement, AAAI said that the advertisement in question had been viewed at the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) by an independent panel - the Consumer Complaints Council, which is representative of multiple stakeholders from industry, civil society, lawyers and consumer activists. “The panel found nothing in the advertisement that was indecent or objectionable or repulsive that could lead to grave and widespread offence,” the association said. All allied bodies and the International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter and the Advertising Club have also supported the ad.