Men grooming product brand Qraa Men has attracted sharp criticism for a recent ad campaign that was allegedly objectifying women. The brand recently used sexually explicit images in an ad campaign to promote its grooming products. The photos had text strips strategically placed on nude female models with messages like, “oh, hero! Sirf dekhte renhe se kuch nahi milna. Dikhane layak bana, beard ko aur khud ko, Qraa beard oil ke saath.”
As soon as the ads were posted, it attracted sharp criticism not only on their Instagram profile but also on Twitter and other social media platforms. One user Ravleen Sabharwal posted screenshots of the now-deleted posts on Twitter and said, “Is this some kind of a cheap joke or an advertisement spreading like bushfire on social media platforms… They marketing is directly targeting women.” She tagged NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma in the post as well.
https://twitter.com/Rsabharwal23/status/1283306945344987143?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/eatslurptravel/status/1283276902094868480?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwAt one point, the brand started to delete the comments from the ad campaign that further irked people.
Though the Qraa Men has removed the recent ad campaign, their whole persona is based on objectifying women. Many popular influencers, both men and women, have campaigned for this company in the past, including FlyingBeast, who lost his job at Air Asia after raising questions over safety concerns.
The brand chose to use the attitude of a few men who believe women are objects of lust to sell their product, and it seems like the idea worked pretty well for them so far. However, they went too far with the latest campaign and had to remove the images after receiving many hate comments from the netizens.