
Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev has called for boycott of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) after the firm received flak for its advertisement for tea brand Brooke Bond Red Label, which described the world's largest gathering on Kumbh Mela as a "place where old people get abandoned".
Ramdev in a tweet said, "For them everything, every emotion is just a commodity. For us parents are next to Gods."
Ramdev drew parallel with East India Company and called for complete boycott of the foreign company for hurting Hindu sentiments.
From East India Co to @HUL_News that's their true character. Their only agenda is to make the country poor economically & ideologically. Why shld we not boycott them? For them everything, every emotion is just a commodity. For us parents are next to Gods #BoycottHindustanUnilever https://t.co/suozbymLBI
Swami Ramdev (@yogrishiramdev) March 7, 2019
FMCG conglomerate Hindustan Unilever is a subsidiary of the London-based firm Unilever PLC. Unilever operates in more than 100 countries, selling its products in more than 190 countries. The company operates approximately 310 factories in over 70 countries.
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The tweet was removed 20 hours later yesterday and HUL posted a new tweet saying, "Red Label encourages us to hold the hands of those who made us who we are." The text at the end of the video, however, still remains.
In the video shared by the company, a father and son can be seen making way through a crowd of devotees. The son is visibly trying to lose his father in the crowd but has a change of heart when he sees a younger father-son duo trying to not lose each other. He then goes back to the father who is sitting at a tea stall and had ordered two cups of chai as he had faith that his son would find him.
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At the end of the video there is the following text: Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering in the world. At the holy gathering, many elderly are abandoned by their families. This Kumbh, let's hold the hands of those who made us who we are.
.@RedLabelChai encourages us to hold the hands of those who made us who we are. Watch the heart-warming video #ApnoKoApnao pic.twitter.com/P3mZCsltmt
Hindustan Unilever (@HUL_News) March 7, 2019
Twitterati did not only take offence to the fact that HUL called Kumbh Mela a place where people go to abandon their elders, they also thought that abandoning elders is antithetical to what Indian culture really is all about. Baba Ramdev even said that their only agenda is to portray the country as economically and ideologically poor.
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