An advertisement by a leading jewellery brand featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been called out by a group of individuals, including the writer and feminist activist Farah Naqvi, for being "racist" and for depicting child labour. The ad in question appeared in a national newspaper on April 17, and features the actress posing in a jewelled costume while a child struggles to hold an umbrella over her.
The letter read, "We wish to convey our dismay at the concept of this advertisement, and that you have, perhaps unthinkingly, associated with such a regressive portrayal of a child to sell a product.
While advertisers routinely use fantasy images to sell products, they must surely desist from using images that condone, legitimise, normalise, or build desirable fantasy around slavery or servitude of any kind, including child slavery or child servitude. Further, the extremely fair colour of your skin (as projected in the advertisement) contrasted with the black skin of the slave-boy is obviously a deliberate creative' juxtaposition by the advertising agency, and insidiously racist."
Nishad Ramchandran, senior vice president, Digital Experience at Hansa Cequity believes that the ad is facing flak partially as a result of our own inadequacies. "For all their talk of empowerment, brands really go out and look for people's inadequacies and build products (around them). That said, ads like these are not always created with any malicious intent. It is when we (the audience) see it that we interpret it according to our own inadequacies. In this case, I would like to give the benefit of the doubt to the jewellers, that this wasn't the intent. Our interpretations of light and dark skin come into play here-we do have old hangovers of fairness being an advantage, and we read into ads like these based on our beliefs," he said.
Amer Jaleel, the national creative director of ad agency Lowe Lintas on the other hand, minces no words while condemning the ad. "I think the campaign is insensitive, not just on a human level, but also on a professional level. You can't create such an ad and then explain that you didn't imagine the gravity of the matter. When you are looking after a brand, it is almost dangerous to not take these values into consideration. Initially, audiences only consumed content. Today, they consume content and comment about it. When it comes to a brand, it is your job to understand what works and what doesn't. I think one can take creative liberties only in one's personal capacity."
Many other creative works have in the past, drawn ire for their "offensive" content. (See pictures above). Does that impinge on creative expression? Photographer Nrupen Madhvani doesn't think so, "I don't think there is anything artistic about this ad. It is in bad taste and it seems to be a deliberate PR exercise with a very clear agenda, which is to create a buzz around the brand. I don't think there is anything to do with freedom of expression here. I think the ad is politically incorrect, especially in a country that is still dealing with such issues. The intention seems deliberate and all I can question is that where is the conscience?"
While everyone is talking about the intention of the idea, Gopal MS wants to shift focus to the intent of the signatories. The creative director of communications agency Tailor, Gopal says, "I agree that the visual of the ad is in poor taste. But are they right in targeting Aishwarya Rai to highlight the issue? Would they do it if it was a male model? It is just another run of the mill ad. I think the creators of the ads are dumb. They are not sensitive to such issues. At times, being politically correct does infringe on the freedom of expression. Especially these days, when everyone seems to be over sensitive."
Meanwhile, we got an email from Aishwarya's publicist, responding to the open letter. It came along with a picture of the original photo shoot and read:
Dear Farah Naqvi, Nisha Agrawal, Enakshi Ganguly , Bharti Ali, Madhu Mehra, Shantha Sinha, Harsh Mander and Mridula Bajaj, On the onset we would like to thank you on drawing our attention to the observation of the perception of the advertisement. Here (above) is an attachment of the shot taken by somebody during the shoot. The final layout of the ad is entirely the prerogative of the creative team for a brand. However shall forward your article as a viewpoint that can be taken into consideration by the creative team of professional working on the brand visual communication.
http://www.asianage.com/bollywood/enslaved-creativity-557
Agree with the bold part.
Edited by mushqte - 10 years ago
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