Before Diwali the ethnic wear retailer Fabindia’s new collection has been launched before Diwali, christened ‘Jashn- e- Riwaaz.’ On Monday with several issues, it ran into a social storm urging the consumers to boycott the brand.
Against the campaign called “de- Hinduising Deepawali,” people protested against it. #Boycott Fab India, the hashtag is currently trending on Twitter. The company IPO bound was forced to take down some of the tweets which were promoting the collection.
When it is asked a Fab India spokesperson stated the titled ‘ Jashn- e- Riwaaz’ is not their Diwali collection.
She stated, “Our Diwali collection, called “Jhilmil si Diwali” is yet to be launched. We at Fab India always stood for the celebration of India with its myriad traditions in all hues. In fact ‘Fab India- celebrates India’ is the tag line of the company as well as their wordmark. Their current capsule of products is under the name of “Jashn-e- Riwaaz” is also a celebration of Indian traditions. The phrase means that, literally.
The brand was accused of defacing the Hindu festival of Diwali and termed it as ‘Jashn- e- Riwaaz’. The several sections of the social platforms, the tweets were described as “culturally inappropriate”. In anger, people slammed the brand unnecessarily the brand uplifted secularism and the Muslim ideologies in a Hindu festival.
The New Delhi headquartered firm is not the first one to face the backlashes on the social platforms for its marketing campaign. The jewelry model Tanishq owned by the Tata’s drew the attention of a piece on social media in an advert which promoted inter-faith marriage. People retaliate the viral advertising, #boycott Tanishq began trending on social media.
Harish Bijoor, who runs boutique consulting outfits stated, “Trolls competitor, encouraged bots, delicate folks, hypersensitive, hurt people and every kind of robots and human beings reside on this house we name- social media. And so they intermingle undistinguished. Anybody who has been observing the traits on hyper-sensitive social media wouldn’t have tried this for positive.”