Vineeta Pandey / DNA
New Delhi, Sep 16: The latest Kitply commercial, in which a wife slaps her husband on their wedding night because their bed made from ordinary plywood kept creaking, has not gone down well with men organisations, who feel that the ad and its likes promote domestic violence. They have complained to the Advertising Standards Council of India asking it to ban the commercial.
“It’s a derogatory commercial, which promotes physical, emotional and financial abuse of men. Kitply may consider it a joke, but violence is not funny; be it against a man or a woman. We are sure you would find the same commercial with reversed roles revolting and so, we urge you to revoke the commercial immediately and take strong legal actions against those who promote domestic violence,” said Save Family Foundation (SFF), an organisation for harassed men, in its complaint.
“It is evident corporates are also responsible for 56,000 married men committing suicides, as they encourage wives to hit their husbands and justify it as alright because it is telecast on the TV,” the complaint stated.
Said Swarup Sarkar of SFF, “There a big hue and cry if a wife is hurt by her husband, but a blind eye is turned when there’s a public display of a wife hitting her husband. Any sort of violence between the spouses is considered illegal and termed as domestic violence or gender violence across the world. Depicting violence on national TV is unacceptable.”
Some groups have also written to Kitply asking it to withdraw the commercial or face legal action and have also called to boycott any product whose ads talk or promote domestic violence. Some women organisations have also joined in the campaign.
Talking to DNA from Kolkata, a Kitply official acknowledged receiving complaints to withdraw the commercial. “We do not feel the ad is offensive. But since there are complaints, we will discuss it in the managing committee meeting this week. It will be difficult to withdraw the ad because we have already tied up with the TV channels. But the final decision will be taken in the meeting,” said Sandeep Sawalka, senior operations manager of Kitply.
Men groups have also protested against a Hindustan Lever Limited, Ponds commercial promoting a scar-removing fairness cream and an ICICI Prudential Insurance commercial.
“The Ponds ad terms husbands as wife beaters and the ICICI ad portrays verbal and economical abuse against men,” said Suresh Ram of Chennai-based organisation Indiya Kudumba Pathukappu Iyaakam.