When stars send the wrong message

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, known for his roles in hard-hitting movies is in a soup. The actor, who did a series of ads for Kenwood in Pakistan, with actress Ayesha Khan, has come under fire for one of the ads for making light of domestic violence. The ad for a washing machine has Nawaz showing off to his friends that he ended up hitting his wife after an argument, or as he puts it ‘dhulai kar di’.

The ad, which circulated online this week, saw people from the subcontinent outraging, leading to the brand to issue an apology. Most experts in the field believe that stars definitely have a certain level of responsibility, and though many have upheld them well, once in a while, there is bound to be a slip-up. Take Shah Rukh Khan’s endorsement of fairness creams or Ranveer Singh’s sexist Jack and Jones ad, where he is carrying his secretary home with the tagline ‘Take your work home’. While actors have an immense capacity for creating awareness on vital issues though ads, sometimes, in the race to stay in the limelight, they skip over the social message, which their actions can have.

“Of course there is a certain responsibility that actors need to have when it comes to what kind of content their ads have. If one does not like the content or believes that it sends out a wrong message, he has the freedom to discuss it with the creative head and have it changed. I suppose it really depends on how much the individual finds the ad offensive,” says Gopal M.S., creative director of Tailor India.

A screenshot from the ad

It may be a bid to promote themselves that leads actors to keep doing ads without really giving too much thought to content, says senior vice president of Hansa Cequity, Nishad Ramachandran. “Say, if a movie of an actor is releasing, then that actor might act in an  advertisement only if in return, the brand promotes that particular movie. This is recent phenomenon and it is on a rise,” he explains.

However, Nishad believes that the ad agencies are equally to blame. “Nobody has actually done an analysis on negative fallout. Sometimes when a brand gets negative publicity, it might get others to be aware of it. So, it does help them sometimes. However, nobody admits that the rise in its popularity is due to the earlier backlash, and hence the cycle continues,” he laments.

Not all actors fall into this category, however. Nishad gives the example of Amitabh Bachchan’s polio ad, which spread the very vital message of taking the polio vaccine, through its simple but powerful message. One can also look at the counter to Nawaz’s ad — the Share the Load campaign by Indian detergent brand, Ariel.

Renowned ad film director, Prahlad Kakkar says that this message is especially something that Nawaz should have kept in mind. “If the ad had shown the two of them (Nawaz and his wife) arguing about who will wash the clothes and he said ‘dhulai kar di’, then it would follow that he did the washing, and there would be some humour in the matter. As it stands, the ad is quite objectionable. Having said that, it was shot in Pakistan, where the set-up is different. Just because there’s a star involved, do we really need to drag him though the coals for some ad he did for some other country? There are surely more important matters to outrage over,” he says, with a laugh.

While advertising industry experts, overall, condemn Nawaz and his advertisement, they are also quick to emphasise that it is an anomaly in a world where more and more sensitive ads are being made everyday. “In certain cases, it is true that problematic issues are made trivial by advertising, but advertising has gotten much more sensitive over time. Over the years, celebrity stars have gotten a better understanding of the influence they have in society,” says Harshad Rajadhyaksha, executive creative director, Ogilvy Advertising.

Harshad’s colleague, Kainaz Karmarkar feels the same. “Celebrities have a social conscience; stars like Farhan Akhtar and Mr Bachchan have continuously work towards the positives of the society. As advertisers, we are trained in communication. We need to continuously work towards making society better and I believe, that we are already doing so,” concludes the creative executive director.