Diwali is celebrated every year during the festive weeks of autumn. And this magnificent festival offers brands an opportunity to showcase their creativity on an important cultural representation to promote their products. One clothing brand named Fabindia also tried its luck to do some creativity, but it ended up making a massive blunder. Recently, Fabindia launched its latest clothing collection with an ad titled 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz' before Diwali weeks. But it was accused of misrepresenting a Hindu festival by people who were enraged over the name “Jashn-e-Riwaaz” that was picked for the collection.

The company underwent severe backlash over the collection, following which they removed their ads and tried to exclude them from their posts on social media platforms. Fabindia claimed that Jashn-e-Riwaaz was not their Diwali collection. A spokesperson from Fabindia stated,

“Our current capsule of products under the name Jashn-e-Riwaaz is celebration of Indian traditions. The phrase means that, liberally. Capsule is not our Diwali collection of products. Our Diwali collection ‘Jhimli si Diwali’ is yet to be launched. Please keep a lookout”.

Jashn-e-Riwaaz can no longer be found in the collection list on Fabindia’s website.

Fabindia is India’s one of the most extensive private platforms for products that are made from traditional styles, skills, and hand-based methods. Following the controversy, the brand has come up with a collection named "Jhimli si Diwali". It is quite arguable to discuss if the ad was faulty or the people’s reaction to it. It is true that in a liberated country like India, one does have the right to express their creativity in its full sense. However, the masses here haven’t regularly been open or accepting when it comes to such unique creations.

The deep-rooted customs and beliefs that people have adapted within society, or the fact that the religious diversity that is strongly resided within India, both have led enough such controversies over advertisements and other things. Full-grown brands like Tanishq, Kent Ro, and White Hat Jr have also confronted such backlashes due to different religious and cultural aspects. However, while experimenting with advertisements, sometimes a brand might also fail badly in getting the audience to connect in the ad, and this further leads to severe backlash at times. Such ads often end up getting a mention in the marketing case histories, tangling between the tolerance level of society and blunders those brands make while advertising.

.    .    .

• www.aninews.in
• www.fabindia.com