Tanishq withdraws TV advertisement showing interfaith marriage

BENGALURU: Tata Group-owned jewellery brand Tanishq pulled its latest advertisement featuring an interfaith married couple after getting trolled on social media for promoting “love jihad”.

The 45-second digital and television commercial, released on October 9, sparked a row on Twitter with the hashtag #BoycottTanishq, calling for people to reject both the ad and the brand.

Released as part of Tanishq’s ‘Ekatvam’ collection, the ad created by an agency called What’s Your Problem was broadcast during the Indian Premier League matches. It showed a pregnant, Hindu woman escorted by her Muslim mother-in-law to a traditional Hindu baby shower ceremony.

A section of Twitter users took offence to the ad, claiming that the company featured a Hindu daughter-in-law in a Muslim family and asked if they would depict a Muslim woman married into a Hindu family. “Love jihad” is a term alleging a campaign by Muslims to convert girls from other communities by feigning love.

“This film has stimulated divergent and severe reactions, contrary to its very objective. 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,” a Tanishq spokesperson said in a statement.

The idea behind the Ekatvam campaign was to celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life, local communities and families during these challenging times and celebrate the beauty of oneness, the spokesperson said.

An equal number of Twitter users saw no harm in the advertisement and condemned the bigotry, saying it was against the idea of India.

According to brand consultant Santosh Desai, companies are not primarily in the business of promoting religious tolerance and they need to think of such matters at the outset. “Brands should take positions if they know they can defend it. Taking socially progressive positions calls for some sacrifice. The idea of doing tokenism to earn goodwill but unwilling to bear the cost is not a sustainable stand,” said Desai. “Social media outrage is overwhelming but transient. Companies must smartly look beyond immediate outrage if they are going to walk this path. Either don’t do it or do it with your eyes open and be ready to bear the cost.”