Controversial ads that landed brands in trouble

Social media acts as a double-edged sword. Instances of advertisements being pulled down because they didn't sit well with viewers remind us the impact social media can have on brands.

Tata Group's Tanishq Jewellery ad was recently taken down after it received severe backlash on social media for showing a Hindu girl happily married into a Muslim family. The 45-second video showed a Muslim family preparing a baby shower for their pregnant Hindu daughter-in-law.Many on social media linked the advertisement to the so-called 'love jihad' and claimed how it failed to show 'reality'. But there were many who voiced that the advertisement was 'beautiful' and stood for Hindu-Muslim unity.However, the furore caused Tanishq to eventually withdraw the ad. In an official statement, Tanishq said, "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."The advertisement by Tanishq was released on 9 October. It promoted Tanishq's new jewellery line called 'Ekatvam'. 

Water purifier brand Kent RO faced the music when it released an ad suggesting domestic helps are COVID-19 carriers.The advertisement was for its atta and bread maker that said, "Are you allowing your maid to knead atta dough by hand? Her hands may be infected." It went on to urge people not to "compromise on health and purity" and choose the company's atta maker instead.The ad featuring Bollywood superstar and BJP MP Hema Malini and her daughter Esha Deol backfired for Kent with many denouncing it as being "classist", "misogynist" and "discriminatory".Kent withdrew the controversial ad and issuing an apology after it received massive backlash on social media.

Eros Now was recently caught in the eye of the storm after a few of its Navratri social media posts -- laden with innuendoes -- ruffled a lot of feathers. As a result, #BoycottErosNow started trending on Twitter and the company received a lot of backlash for its posts. The company took down the concerned posts and apologised but the damage was already done.Kangana Ranaut too lashed out at Eros Now and said, "We must preserve cinema as a community viewing theatre experience, its more difficult to enthrall large section of audience than sexualise content for personal viewing, digitisation of art faces this major crisis, all streaming platforms are nothing but a porn hub. SHAME Eros Now."

Mankind Pharma, the company that manufactures Manforce condoms, was caught in controversy in  2017 when the  brand put up close to 500 public hoardings in Gujarat ahead of the Navratri festival. The hoardings had actor Sunny Leone with the caption saying "play safe", ahead of the nine-day festival.Many interpreted it as a desecration of the festival's sanctity and also promotion of physical intimacy during the holy festival.

The ad, released in early February, depicted Indians being evacuated from Wuhan, China (the epicentre of COVID-19 outbreak) through two Air-India flights. "Wuhan Se Yahaan Le Aaye," read the tagline and the image showed the Amul girl, along with a group of other people - wearing masks - walk out of the flight.While several users appreciated Amul for their "creativity", there was a section of social media users who criticised the brand for insensitivity.

Widely popular hairstylist Jawed Habib also triggered controversy when he released an ad with religious symbolism around the time of Durga Puja in the year 2017. The news in the advertisement showed various gods from Hindu mythology - Durga, along with her children Kartik, Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Ganesh - having a spa day at Jawed Habib's. The caption read as, "Gods too visit JH salon."The pictured of gods relaxing in the spa, putting on make-up, and counting money drew severe backlash from netizens. They later accused Habib of targeting gods of another religion and not his own.One of Habib's salon was even vandalised in Uttar Pradesh after the ad was released. Habib, later on, issued an apology on social media for his ad.

In  2017, Zomato's advertisement created buzz on the Internet, after the food delivery app used initials for Hindi cuss words 'MC, BC' for 'mac n' cheese' and 'butter chicken'.Socialite and entrepreneur Suhel Seth posted a picture of the advertisement and called it "Absolutely shameful'.While some lauded Zomato's wit, others strongly criticised the food delivery app.