A massive outrage broke over various social media platforms with users calling for the boycott of the jewellery brand Tanishq for their latest advertisement which showcased a Hindu woman married into a Muslim family, preparing for her baby shower. Heeding to criticism, the controversial advertisement which was accused of promoting ‘love jihad’ has been pulled down from YouTube.
The Tanishq ‘Love Jihad’ ad that has now been taken down. Disgusting! pic.twitter.com/QuS1XBTVIO
— Kashyap Amrika Observer (@YearOfTheKraken) October 12, 2020
Earlier today, the company faced a severe backlash from social media users, who accused the organisation of glorifying and promoting ‘love jihad’ through its latest commercial. #BoycottTanishq was amongst the top trending items on microblogging website Twitter as netizens called for boycotting the brand for peddling soft bigotry.
The ad released on October 9 shows a pregnant Hindu woman walking with her mother-in-law, who distinctly belonged to the Muslim faith. The Muslim mother-in-law then leads the Hindu daughter-in-law to the garden area, where the god-bharai ceremony has been set up according to Hindu traditions.
Shocked, the daughter-in-law asks the mother-in-law why the ceremony was set up in that manner since “these things are not followed in the house”. To that, the smiling mother-in-law tells her that while this might not be their tradition (since they are a Muslim family), making daughters happy is a universal tradition.
Social Media outrage over the controversial Tanishq advertisement
The advertisement sparked massive outrage on social media websites, with more than 17,000 users tweeting with the hashtag ‘#Boycott Tanishq, calling for the boycott of the jewellery brand for promoting the concept of ‘love jihad’ and hurting the sentiments of Hindus.
The outrage was partly fuelled by the recent case of an 18-year-old Rahul Rajput, who was brutally hacked to death by his Muslim girlfriend’s brother and his friends. The Muslim girl’s family, particularly her brother, were opposed to their inter-religious affair. Further, in reality, there have been innumerable cases where Hindu women are forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men.
Recently, family members of a 20-year-old girl have alleged that one Salman entrapped their daughter, forced her to convert to Islam and marry her. In September, an aspiring model Pooja committed suicide after her husband allegedly forced her to adopt Islam.
