Bharat Matrimony’s Holi ad, Swiggy
ad and other controversial ads

Produced by: Prashanti Moktan
Designed by: Mohsin

Bharat Matrimony shared an ad on its social media accounts on the occasion of Holi, which sparked a row

Bharat Matrimony’s Holi ad

This year, Holi coincided with International Women’s Day and Bharat Matrimony’s ad was on women’s safety during the festival of Holi

Bharat Matrimony’s controversial ad

The matrimonial site’s ad featured a woman covered in Holi colours who starts wiping her face at the start of the video

Watch Bharat Matrimony ad

The ad goes on to show her with a bruised face underneath the colour

Bharat Matrimony ad

The ad’s original caption highlighted how a lot of women have stopped playing Holi due to the trauma they experience through harassment but it was later changed 

Bharat Matrimony ad’s
original message

Many users on Twitter accused the ad of equating the festival of Holi with harassment and #BoycottBharatMatrimony started trending

Bharat Matrimony faces
backlash over ad

However, many users also supported Bharat Matrimony for highlighting the issue of women facing harassment during Holi

Bharat Matrimony ad
receives support

Recently, Swiggy’s ad on ‘Holi egg’ also sparked a controversy and the food and grocery delivery app removed their billboards after #HinduPhobicSwiggy started trending on Twitter

Swiggy ad on Holi

Jewellery brand Tanishq faced backlash for their ad featuring Neena Gupta, Nimrat Kaur, Sayani Guta and Alaya F, where the stars promoted a cracker-free Diwali

Tanishq’s cracker-free
Diwali ad

Aamir Khan and Kiara Advani’s ad where after marriage the man moved into the woman’s home faced backlash online for showcasing reversal of ‘tradition’

AU Small Finance Bank’s
gender-role reversal ad

Fab India’s Diwali ad campaign termed Jashn-e-Riwaaz was slammed online for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments

Fab India’s Diwali ad