amiret Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Dear Mrs Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, We write to draw your attention to a full-page advertisement for Kalyan Jewellers in which you feature that appeared in The Hindu (Delhi edition) on April 17, 2015. In the advertisement you appear to be representing aristocracy from a bygone era – bejewelled, poised and relaxing while an obviously underage slave-child, very dark and emaciated, struggles to hold an oversize umbrella over your head. We wish to convey our dismay at the concept of this advertisement, and that you have, perhaps unthinkingly, associated with such a regressive portrayal of a child to sell a product. While advertisers routinely use fantasy images to sell products, they must surely desist from using images that condone, legitimise, normalise, or build desirable fantasy around slavery or servitude of any kind, including child slavery or child servitude. Further, the extremely fair colour of your skin (as projected in the advertisement) contrasted with the black skin of the slave-boy is obviously a deliberate "creative" juxtaposition by the advertising agency, and insidiously racist. The genealogy of this image can be traced back to 17th and 18th century colonial European portraits of white aristocracy, depicting women being waited upon by their black "servants". http://scroll.in/article/722272/open-letter-to-aishwarya-rai-bachchan-this-ad-you-figure-in-is-insidiously-racist
amiret Posted April 22, 2015 Author Posted April 22, 2015 We are fully aware that yours is an advertisement selling jewellery through creating a fantasy/desire, and not a portrayal of reality. Yet, advertisements and visuals are a critical part of our socio-cultural-psychological ecosystem and these ecosystems can either help create conditions in our mind that will foster positive social change or work against it. So, in this context, what is the social change we want? One, racism is a global reality, and we need to fight it. Two, though child labour in many industries is illegal in India, it is still rampant and we all need to work together to change this. Three, the Right to Education Act mandates that all children up to age 14 must be in school, and we need to make sure they are there and learning. Given that we proclaim commitment to each of these goals, we urge you to look beyond the product itself and examine the fantasy/desire that this particular advertisement seeks to subliminally create. The fantasy here, it seems, is – buying and wearing Kalyan Jewellery will create for a woman the feeling of living in an era where it is OK for dark-skinned little children from poor homes (hence, the malnourished child model) to be enslaved or pressed into servitude to pander to bejewelled women from the nobility; an era where slavery is not only socially acceptable but a slave is something to be flaunted – hence the portraiture style of the advertisement echoing the 17th and 18th century genre, which pointedly has noble ladies along with their child-slaves.
Tiger80 Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 In India people have no problem little children serving food to them in roadside eatery or dhaba,and these people are offended by some painting of child
amiret Posted April 22, 2015 Author Posted April 22, 2015 In a statement on behalf of the actress, her publicist suggested that Aishwarya was not involved in the final image that appeared in the newspaper. The statement, accompanied by the photo below, was addressed to the authors of the open letter and read: "On the onset we would like to thank you on drawing our attention to the observation of the perception of the advertisement. Here is an attachment of the shot taken by somebody during the shoot. The final layout of the ad is entirely the prerogative of the creative team for a brand. However shall forward your article as a viewpoint that can be taken into consideration by the creative team of professional working on the brand visual communication."
AmreekanDesi Posted April 23, 2015 Posted April 23, 2015 In India people have no problem little children serving food to them in roadside eatery or dhaba' date='and these people are offended by some painting of child[/quote'] End thread we are all guilty of this. majority well off families emply teenage kids to work for them
Number Posted April 23, 2015 Posted April 23, 2015 should have been Abhishek Bachchan holding that umbrella.
maniac Posted April 24, 2015 Posted April 24, 2015 should have been Abhishek Bachchan holding that umbrella. :hysterical:
velu Posted April 24, 2015 Posted April 24, 2015 should have been Abhishek Bachchan holding that umbrella. :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:
Sidhoni Posted April 26, 2015 Posted April 26, 2015 should have been Abhishek Bachchan holding that umbrella. :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:
gaurav92 Posted April 26, 2015 Posted April 26, 2015 should have been Abhishek Bachchan holding that umbrella. :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:
CG Posted April 26, 2015 Posted April 26, 2015 should have been Abhishek Bachchan holding that umbrella. :hysterical:
dial_100 Posted April 26, 2015 Posted April 26, 2015 AB was willing to hold the umbrella but he asked for some help from AB
gs Posted April 27, 2015 Posted April 27, 2015 should have been Abhishek Bachchan holding that umbrella. :hysterical:
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