Idea's ‘No Ullu Banaoing’ ad row: Omar Abdullah, ring test and Pashmina shawls

By Biprorshee Das

Idea Cellular has responded to criticism of its advertisement, featuring Pashmina shawls, by Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Twitter. “As a responsible organisation and brand, we always do thorough research and due-diligence prior to undertaking any customer communication. In this case too, we verified the accuracy of our claim prior to finalising the campaign. We have written to the Hon’ble CM of J&K clarifying our position on the advertisement and confirm that the ring test is valid on Pashmina shawls,” Rajat Mukarji, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Idea Cellular, told ET Panache.

One of the commercials in Idea’s ‘ No Ullu Banaoing’ campaign features a trader trying to sell a Pashmina shawl to two women. The women let the trader know that they are aware that an authentic Pashmina smoothly passes through a ring, and the salesman better not sell them a fake product. The advertisement did not go down very well with the people of Jammu & Kashmir, particularly the Chief Minister of the state.

Abdullah tweeted that Shahtoosh shawls, not Pashmina, were supposed to pass the ring test. Abdullah tweeted that he found the ad “wrong”, “totally misleading” and even “insulting” to Kashmiri handicraft salesmen. While Idea stood by their commercial, Lowe Lintas, the agency behind the Idea Cellular campaign, did not comment on the issue.