Siddharth slams Jack & Jones for sexist ad featuring Ranveer Singh
A hoarding of the new Jack & Jones ad. Courtesy: Siddharth/Twitter
Jack & Jones’ new ad featuring Bollywood heartthrob Ranveer Singh has drawn flak from Tamil superstar Siddharth, who took to his microblogging account to criticize the ‘sexist’ ad.
The ad for the Denmark-based fashion brand depicts a ‘winking’ Ranveer in a casual office attire complete with a sharp shirt, suspenders, bowtie and skinny jeans physically lifting a female ‘co-worker’ on his shoulder as the building’s liftman smirks in the background.
The female colleague is dressed in a mini skirt and blouse, with the ad captioned, “Don’t Hold Back. Take Your Work Home”.
Siddharth, who is one of the more socially aware celebrities and known for voicing his opinions publicly, tweeted a picture of a billboard carrying the ad on Sunday and captioned it,
“A new low for women’s rights in the workplace in India. What were they thinking? #Fail”
The actor’s criticism for the ad comes at a time when most women in India are still fighting for equal pay and against workplace harassment.
During the bygone ‘MTV era’, when shock and awe was an actual promotion strategy, the ad might have worked.
But in this day and age, both the ad agency and the brand should have known that women don’t really need to be taken home from work or lifted at work and men can ‘hold back’ at work.
“Many youth-centric brands use shocking visuals to grab eyeballs. If the brand wanted to do something of that sort, they would have gone further because this particular visual isn’t catchy enough. It’s also difficult to believe that out of the dozen or so people who would have seen the ad before it was approved, not one thought that this ad could be perceived ‘sexist’,” said Aman Shekhar, a VP of a renowned Ad firm.
Needless to say, many twitterati seemed to agree with the Tamil actor and showed support by retweeting and replying to his post.
Siddharth’s tweet:
A new low for women’s rights in the workplace in India. What were they thinking? #Fail pic.twitter.com/3PW5mMaKOt
— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) November 20, 2016
