Kalyan Jewellers has apologised for its latest ad starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shweta Bachchan Nanda, and Malayalam actor Manju Warrier after it came under attack from a bank union which said it was aimed at creating ‘distrust’ in the banking system.
The jewellery chain on Sunday issued a statement, where it said that the ad will be removed from all media with immediate effect.
The statement issued by Kalyan read, “We understand that the advertisement has hurt sentiments of some people including members of our esteemed banking community. Any such hurtful interpretation being drawn is unintended. We state that the creative advertisement was a work of fiction and not a reflection of banking employees at large.”
“We sincerely regret the inadvertent hurt caused and withdraw the advertisement from all media with immediate effect,” the statement added.
“Along with crores of Indians, we acknowledge the valuable contribution of the banking community to our country,” the statement said.
All India Bank Officers’ Confederation, an organization claiming to have a membership of around 3,20,000 officers, last week threatened to sue Kalyan Jewellers accusing it of “casting aspersion and hurting the sentiments of millions of personnel” through the advertisement.
AIBOC general secretary Soumya Datta had alleged that the theme, tone, and tenor of the Ad were “disgusting, derogatory, to say the least, and is aimed to create distrust in the banking system, for pure commercial gain.”
However, Kalyan Jewellers had rejected the allegation, saying it was “pure fiction.”
The advertisement features Bachchan as an old man and Shweta Bachchan Nanda as his daughter. Bachchan, depicted as a person with integrity and honesty, is seen visiting a bank branch along with his daughter to return the extra money credited in his pension account and his bitter encounter with bank employees in the process.
“The advertisement portrays banks in bad light, casting aspersion, hurting the sentiment of millions of personnel, stakeholders and is a direct attempt to ruin the trust and confidence of billions of citizenries in banks,” Datta had said.
Bachchan had tweeted the video of the ad, saying “Emotional moment for me.. tears welling up every time I see it.. daughters are the best !!”
Discussion about this post