Recently, Hindustan Unilever came up with a rather touching advertisement which stresses on the concepts of inclusivity and the importance of looking beyond boundaries of religion when it comes to friendship.
However, this ad did not sit well with certain right wing supporters who felt that it promoted love jihad. Love jihad is a concept introduced by Hindutva supporters who believe that Muslim men court Hindu women in order to convert them.
As a result, there was widespread anger and hatred pouring in for the ad and people even started demanding a complete boycott of Unilever and Surf Excel products.
In case you missed the ad, here goes:
[yt] https://youtu.be/Zq7mN8oi8ds [/yt]
However, as more and more people came to know about the controversy surrounding the ad, they decided to raise their voice in support of it. If you noticed, the number of love reacts on posts related to the ad have slowly but surely overtaken the number of angry reacts on the same.
We’re just glad that people are gradually seeing reason and managing to look beyond petty issues and actually recognizing the beauty and emotions hidden in the advertisement.
A lot of people are now defending the ad. Check out what they have to say:
#1
I really want to see how this #BoycottSurfExcel is going to play out. Because for a lot of people in North India, Surf means detergent powder. At many stores I have been asked, konsa sur chahiye, Ariel ka surf, Excel ka surf ya Tide ka surf?#NotKidding#BoycottHindustanUnilever
— Bobins Abraham Vayalil (@BobinsAbraham) March 11, 2019
#2
This beautiful Ad has angered Sanghis and they want to Boycott #SurfExcel. There are some things Surf Excel cant clean. The Filthy Mind of Indian RW is one of them pic.twitter.com/2f6yPNlTfJ
— Nitish Kumar Singh (@IAmNitishKumar_) March 10, 2019
#3
The #RangLaayeSang advertising is the only one feeling we need as of now.
Good work @surfexcel #Holi2019— A.S.Jadhav (@akshayj10437193) March 11, 2019
#4
I personally liked the Surf excel ad.But some of my friends were unhappy. They complained that it brought subtle religious overtones. While I still have nothing specific against the ad itself, I try to place the anger and religious implications in a historical context (4/4)
— True Indology (@TrueIndology) March 10, 2019
#5
Meaningful video #SurfExcel #HindustanUnilever
— Pramod Kumar Singh (@0401Singh) March 11, 2019
#6
The people who have nothing to do are getting together and making all this rubbish hashtags.
The surf excel ad was so beautiful, allowing both the religion practises to exist together. #SurfExcel
— Pagalpoet (@puneetsangwani) March 10, 2019
#7
https://twitter.com/SyeDDehelvi/status/1104979955820179457
#8
Bc Kya galat hai Surf Excel k ad me ?
Gobar dimaag logon ki kami nahi h desh me— 😔 (@SKsSaltanat) March 10, 2019
#9
https://twitter.com/dixit_shrey/status/1104979608410107904
#10
https://twitter.com/Mohsin_shaikh01/status/1104719130333044743
#11
https://twitter.com/dixit_shrey/status/1104979604249309185
#12
Cannot believe people are actually offended by the secular surf excel ad that promotes Hindu-Muslim harmony.
A Hindu girl provokes all her water balloon busters to fling colourful balloons on… https://t.co/U7NslaCBDE— Ajatika Singh (@Ajatikaa) March 11, 2019
#13
This ad is beautiful. Deal with it haters https://t.co/VyUXqDf6m4
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) March 10, 2019
#14
This beautiful Ad has angered Sanghis and they want to Boycott #SurfExcel. There are some things Surf Excel cant clean. The Filthy Mind of Indian RW is one of them pic.twitter.com/XLAijY3OSE
— Joy (@Joydas) March 10, 2019
What is your take on the Surf Excel ad? Share with us!