Recently, Brooke Bond uploaded an ad with the theme around awareness regarding people leaving their elders in the Kumbh Mela. Kumbh mela is a mass gathering of people which occurs every 12 years. According to a news article by Nat Geo, some people use the Kumbh mela as an excuse to leave their elderly. This is a hard pill to swallow, even for me that such a disgusting thing happens in our country. Here is the link to that article:
The outright reaction to this advertisement was very hostile with people demanding to boycott Unilever products. The argument being made that such awareness videos are not made for issues in other religions such as Triple talaq and the sexual assaults by pastors. Some people even refused to acknowledge that such a thing happens in the Kumbh. While I agree with the first point that the companies like this should have the courage to create content condemning the issues in other religions as well instead of bashing Hinduism all the time, I think this advertisement creates awareness about an issue which was not known by many people, including me. Instead of getting offended by such topics, we should do our research and condemn such an act so that the frequency of such issues decreases.
Same happened with the surf excel ad, which was blamed for promoting love jihad. I mean, Seriously?!! It had such a beautiful message. The context of that ad was to promote communal harmony.
I think this is because many people don't have their own opinion. And there is a general notion of boycotting or hating something that even slightly hurts our religious sentiments.
I think the boycotting of Unilever products is illogical and a result of mob mentality.
