Fashion designer Sabyasachi's ‘intimate’ ad featuring mangalsutras brutally trolled

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi's jewellery brand has upset many people with its latest photoshoot and ad campaign. The brand's official Instagram handle shared images from its ‘Intimate Fine Jewellery' collection featuring the Royal Bengal Mangalsutra. It also includes the Bengal Tiger icon collection of earrings, necklaces, and signet rings in 18k gold with black enamel, VVS diamonds, and black onyx.

The images feature models donning traditional jewellery like the mangalsutra, but what has caused a stir is their attire. Among all the photos which are a part of the collection, the one showcasing a scantily dressed model donning a mangalsutra has grabbed a lot of attention and comments from people online. It has been deemed ‘obscene' by many, who also questioned if the advertisement is even focussed on jewellery.

This is not the first time that the Indian designer has been at the receiving end from Indian netizens. He was faced with criticism earlier for promoting fast fashion. Sabyasachi has been a vocal advocate of ethical and sustainable fashion, therefore, when he launched his collection, Sabyasachi X H&M, with global fast fashion brand H&M, he was called out on his "duality".

Online trolls spared no words when attacking the photoshoot and subsequent ad campaign.

While the designer's brand has been trolled online, other brands have also been at the receiving end for their allegedly controversial campaigns. Recently, Dabur had to withdraw a Karwa Chauth advertisement featuring a same-sex couple after Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra criticised the advertisement for depicting two women celebrating the Hindu festival. The BJP leader slammed Dabur in a statement and said police had been told to order the company to withdraw the ad.

In an another instance, FabIndia was also at the receiving end of backlash for its ‘Jashn-E-Riwaaz' collection as it used an Urdu terminology while referring to a Hindu festival. The hashtag #boycottfabindia started trending on Twitter after BJP YuvaMorcha president Tejasvi Surya put out a tweet condemning the ad campaign. It said, "Deepavali is not Jashn-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires must be called out. And brands like Fabindia must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures." The brand had to eventually clarify that their Diwali collection was in fact called ‘Jhilmilsi Diwali' and is yet to be launched.