Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has been the brand ambassador of Kalyan Jewellers since 2012. We have since Mr Bachchan featuring in many TVCs by the jewellery brand. The recent TVC of Kalyan Jewellers feature Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter Shweta Nanda. This is for the first time Big B is seen on-screen with his daughter. The ad has a backdrop of rural North India. This one-and-a-half minute long advertisement has irked a bank union which termed it “disgusting” and “derogatory”.
Source: YouTube
According to PTI, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), an organisation claiming to have membership of around 3,20,000 officers, 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 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.”
Source: YouTube
Kalyan Jewellers, on its part, rejected the allegation, saying it was “pure fiction.” “We understand that your esteemed association feels that the bankers have been portrayed in bad light. We state it on record that it is a pure fiction and at no point we have intended to generalize the bank officers at large,” Kalyan Jewellers said in a letter to Datta.
“Please accept our unconditional disclaimer for the same. We shall within three working days from today add characters and situations depicted are fictional. The brand does not intend to disrespect or malign any person or community before the advertisement,” it said.
In the TVC, Bachchan is playing an old person who is seen visiting a bank branch along with his daughter to return the extra money credited in his pension account. He then faces a bitter experience with the employees.
Check the ad here.
