Diwali, the festival of lights, is a special occasion for millions of Hindus who celebrate it with a huge pomp and show. Apart from the festivity, the festival also attracts a form of virtue signalling where various various eminent personalities and brands lament about the alleged pollution hazards the festival causes, while not appearing to do anything worthwhile to curb pollution for the rest of the year.
We had already carried a report that shows how firecrackers burst during Diwali are not the main pollution hazard, especially in the Delhi-NCR. Apart from that, use of firecrackers has progressively been going down as people have shunned them voluntarily, yet, motley of activists keep on shaming people for bursting crackers as if they are the central reason for pollution.
Such condescending and preachy attitude, especially in wake of Supreme Court banning sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR, led many people to feel angered and frustrated. And they felt the same, when some top brands on Twitter decided to do the same:
As clearly seen in the picture, the face mask with “Happy Diwali” written on it, insinuated worsening air quality during the festival. This preachy tweet wasn’t taken too kindly by twitter users who expressed their displeasure:
Let us all Hindus #BoycottPanasonic@PanasonicIndia
Let’s make #PanasonicFreeIndiapic.twitter.com/m3HKvKxdPI
— ॐ भारत ॐ (@_dharam_vir) October 17, 2017
Hey @panasonic , your India division seems to be hell bent on insulting local customs and rituals, with no scientific evidence of any kind. This marketing gimmick is cheap and is not welcome. We will boycott Panasonic products.
— Anirudh (@eaniman) October 17, 2017
She doesn’t look happy, no?
Why mock with a “Happy Diwali’ insert then? #Right2Breathe is great ? but don’t pollute happy festive spirit!— Amrita Bhinder (@amritabhinder) October 17, 2017
How @PanasonicIndia wishes
Pic 1: Eid
Pic 2: Christmas
Pic 3: Diwali pic.twitter.com/2ZFN2zFamQ
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) October 18, 2017
After Panasonic it was noticed that, Samsung and Tata Power (arguably one of the major ‘pollutants’) had put up such tweets on earlier Diwali. But this Diwali, the sense of being wronged and being preached unnecessarily was strong, so these brands also came under attack:
Do the leaders of these companies realise the damage to their brand by letting SM handlers peddle such toxic trash https://t.co/bmbfdG8yoT
— Prasanna Viswanathan (@prasannavishy) October 18, 2017
You have thermal power plants which run on coal! That’s environmental friendly? https://t.co/r5WndwrCeO
— Hemant (@bija_hem) October 18, 2017
This tweet alone should demonstrate to you it is futile negotiating with #IdeaOfIndia – they have no principles or restraints. https://t.co/Maz7XDZg0g
— Reality Check India (@realitycheckind) October 18, 2017
From a co. that can make you celebrate Diwali with exploding phones, this is a bit rich. Will not even get into the carbon footprint issue. https://t.co/FTUClnXIwn
— FirecrackeRatty (@YearOfRat) October 18, 2017
#SayNoToSamsung products. @Samsung_IN products are more dangerous than crackers. @mediacrooks pic.twitter.com/hcS69wyVaZ
— NayaN (@nayanchandra) October 18, 2017
4 years old tweet, but this is gold. @TataPower pic.twitter.com/dqVnlNxosE
— Spaminder Bharti (@attomeybharti) October 18, 2017
Such a sustained pressure by the netizens probably made the companies realise that it was creating a negative brand perception and the all three deleted their preachy tweets. Tata Power possibly even got into damage control mode and later put out this tweet, which was not blatantly anti-cracker and preachy:
Diwali is upon us and here is a tip for having a #SafeDiwali. Burn firecrackers in an open space like a field to avoid any mishap. pic.twitter.com/Xw9pnjBB7W
— Tata Power (@TataPower) October 18, 2017
