‘Aamir Khan ad creating unrest’: CEAT’s commercial stokes controversy

After a clothing brand recently faced the ire of certain section of the society for their Diwali ad for allegedly ‘defacing’ the Hindu festival, another company now finds itself embroiled in controversy.

Karnataka BJP MP Ananthkumar Hegde has raised objections to the latest commercial of tyre major CEAT Ltd where Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is seen advising people not to burst crackers on the streets

In his letter to the company’s MD and CEO, the MP said CEAT must take take cognisance of the recent advertisement creating “unrest among the Hindus”

Claiming the ad has hurt the sentiment of the Hindus,  he further asked the company to address the “problem of blocking roads during namaz and noise from mosques during azaan”.

Hegde pointed out that across India, devotees block busy roads to perform namaz and vehicles like ambulances and fire engines get stuck in traffic, causing grave losses. He also wrote in his letter how ‘loud noise emitted from microphones on the top of mosques cause great inconvenience to people suffering from different ailments, teachers teaching in classrooms and several others. Hedge flagged ‘the discrimination done to the Hindus for centuries’ in his letter dated October 14

The MP pointed out how a group of “anti-Hindu actors” always hurt Hindu sentiments whereas they never try to expose the wrongdoings of their community.

The incident comes within days of a recent controversy around FabIndia’s tweet to promote their latest clothing collection titled ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’. It was pulled down after an uproar erupted on social media that accused the clothing brand of “damaging the Hindu festival of Deepavali”.

Popular jewelry brand Tanishq last year had to face severe backlash for allegedly encouraging ‘love jihad’ through its ad. Celebrities such as Kangana Ranaut have joined the bandwagon and criticised the advertisement as well as the entire brand. Following the uproar, Tanishq took down the advertisement from its social media handles, as well as its official Youtube channel.

Almost a month back Bridal wear brand Mohey was in news for their wedding campaign film featuring Alia Bhatt. The wedding campaign urged a rethink of traditional notions, where a daughter conforms to being ‘given away’ at her wedding during ‘kanyadaan’. Several social media users called out the ‘woke feminism’ and slammed the ad for undermining the Hindu tradition

Habib’s ad in 2017 featuring the Hindu Goddess Durga and her four children in their salon enjoying a spa day didn’t settle well with the audience.

Over the years several advertisements have stoked controversies in India. Big brands have been forced to pull down their ad campaigns for the fear of being boycotted