Business and Politics: How Ads and Campaigns of Business Affects Society

This blog was written after the statements from World’s largest Ice Cream Brand, Ben & Jerry which has franchises in 35 countries infuriated Israel’s government and people.

The statement was “Ben & Jerry will no longer sell ice cream at Occupied Palestinian Territory”. The main reason Ben & Jerry stopped the sales is that it is inconsistent with their values.

Israel replied that it is anti-semitic and maligned. Israel even questioned its parent ‘Unilever’. For which it said that they always respect the individual brand's decisions.

Many people are saying that Ben & Jerry had been selling Ice cream for 37 years in Israel, but this move is due to public pressure after a recent strike against Palestinian during Ramadan.

This is not happening only in Israel, many companies in India also face much public pressure.

In 2020, Tanishq came into controversy when their ad infuriated a group saying it is promoting ‘Love Jihad’ which made Tanishq remove the ad from all platforms.

Surf Excel also faced a similar backlash after the ad portraying a Hindu girl safeguarding a Muslim boy to a mosque during the Hindu festival of Holi. This sparked controversy in social media and outraged people also gave a 1-star rating review to ‘Microsoft Excel’ for having ‘Excel’ in common with Surf Excel.

Brooke Bond Red label tea also came under controversy for series of advertisements promoting secularism. Priyanka Chopra was trolled for bursting crackers at her wedding because she acted in an awareness ad of Cipla encouraging to burst fewer crackers at Diwali.

Even Zomato came under public pressure over some customers denied buying from some delivery boy citing his religion for which the company replied with a statement saying “Food doesn’t have religion. It is a religion.” which won hearts over social media.

What is worst is the portrayal of women in advertisements. Unicef said that Indian advertisements promote gender bias, stereotypes and sexism. Women appear in ads mostly to sell domestic and beauty products. Women are 6 times more likely to be shown in revealing clothing and 5 times more likely to be sexually objectified.

Women organisations have also pointed out that all ads glorify women’s unpaid work like cooking, cleaning the house, washing the clothes etc.

Ads take only a few seconds of our life, which plants an idea very firmly in the brain and heart. If that Idea is flawed or bad then the consequences are very serious to society.

Ronaldo even refused to have Cola bottles before his press conference and advised people to drink water.

Advertisers should promote ads both sensibly and responsibly because their contents are consumed mostly by Indian Youths which reinforces the dogmas and stereotypes. If they are promoting any noble values they should stick to it in spite of initial backlash.