Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Over the years, there have been so many ads that gained attention for all the wrong reasons. Few months before we saw the controversy around Tanishq’s advertisement spread like wildfire on social media and within an hour of the ad’s release, the hashtag #BoycottTanishq began trending to which Tanishq had to take down the video.
To the fresh, recently Actor Alia Bhatt’s advertisement for Manyavar has become the talk of the town where the actress received end of flak. The Ad questions the Hindu tradition of ‘Kanyadyan’ and refers to the ritual as the bride being donated. The ad didn’t go well with the netizens and started trolling while some fans hailed the ad for portraying a modern outlook.
In the past few years, we have seen social media uproars over advertisements to an extent that they had to be pulled back. Here are some of the most controversial advertisements –
1. Zomato Ad campaign –
The new Zomato advertisements featuring Katrina Kaif and Hrithik Roshan- ‘Har customer hai Star’ advertisements, was intended to promote the company’s ‘fast delivery and special customer service’ ethos.
As soon as the new ads dropped online, viewers led to outrage as they pointed out that the company is imposing a not-so-healthy work environment for the Zomato delivery partners/valets. Although the organisation intended to promote the company’s fast delivery and special customer service, people have been questioning the intentions otherwise.
2. Amul’s Call to Boycott Chinese Goods-
The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation’s Twitter account, which owns the Amul brand, was blocked shortly after it posted a cartoon that seemingly called for a boycott of Chinese goods.
The cartoon seemed to endorse Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat‘ strategy as well as a call for a boycott of Chinese goods on Indian social media. In light of this temporary ban, #Amul started trending on Twitter with many users accusing the platform of having a bias against India.
3. Tanishq ‘Baby Shower’ Ad-
Tanishq released a TVC on the theme of Ekatvam featuring a Hindu girl married in a Muslim family who is celebrating her baby shower. This ritual is not a part of the Muslim culture, but the ad movie showcased a liberal family that was more concerned about their daughter-in-law’s happiness.
After the release of the ad, netizens started trending #BoycottTanishq on social media as the netizens claimed that this was promoting ‘Love Jihad’ and has hurt the sentiments of Hindus.
4. The PayTM Ad-
The PayTm ad showed a primary-school-age boy aspiring cricketer who shows a little slack in focus on his own game and is slapped by the angry coach. The ad goes on to show that the kid then works hard to be the ideal student and grows up to become the Master Blaster later in life.
Soon, netizens were aghast with what they assumed was justification for the assault on the kid. People expressing that slapping a child in an ad isn’t justified by putting a super and it is spreading the bad message.
5. The Manforce condoms Ad-
The Manforce ad with Sunny Leone that used Navratri to sell condoms in Gujarat created a huge public outrage. Traders body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) asked the Centre to ban an outdoor advertisement in Gujarat of Manforce contraceptive brand saying it was derogatory and encouraged the youth to use its condoms in the name of Navratri festival. Soon, the company was forced to withdraw the ad after a public outcry.
6. Calida’s “Not So Sexy” Ad-
The undergarment brand Calida’s ad starring Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea saw the latter with his teeth pulling down Bipasha Basu’s underwear. Most women organisations protested the ad and it was banned. Bipasha Basu, years later, disclosed that the images were from intimate moments and were not intended to be photographed or even used.
7. Zomato “MC BC’ Ad-
In 2017, Zomato had put out an ad campaign that displayed the popular curse words ‘MC BC’ translating them to mac-n-cheese and butter chicken. People complained that the advertisements were offensive and poor in taste.
8. Alia Bhatt’s Manyavar Ad –
The bridal wear brand Manyavar Mohey released a new commercial featuring Alia Bhatt, where it suggested an alternative to the Hindu ritual ‘Kanyadaan’, as ‘Kanyamaan’. In the advert, Alia lists out phrases that are commonly said to Indian daughters and brides, including, ‘paraaya dhan’ i.e; someone else’s wealth, usually referring to one’s in-laws.
The Ad received mixed reactions from netizens- ranging from accusations of ‘anti-Hindu’ sentiment to others applauding the ad’s ‘progressive message’.
