KOCHI: The ad film by Kalyan Jewellers, featuring actors Amitabh Bachchan and Manju Warrier, which seems to question the trust of banks in the country, has landed the jeweller in a soup with the All Kerala Bank Employees’ Federation (AKBEF) writing to the Advertisement Standards Council of India (ASCI) seeking its intervention to stop the advertisement immediately.
Following the protest, Kalyan Jewellers said the ad-film was “pure fiction”.
It also promised to incorporate a “disclaimer” in three days saying it “does not intend to disrespect or malign any person or community”. In the letter to ASCI, AKBEF general secretary and state convenor of United Forum of Bank Unions C D Josson asked Kalyan Jewellers to stop airing the advertisement and remove it from social media.
“The film is shot in such a way that shows bank employees as arrogant, indifferent and callous. The entire content of the advertisement is misleading and maligns the image of bank employees and officers among the public,” the letter said.
“It is a well known fact to the entire nation how bank employees worked during the demonetisation period, sacrificing everything. The Prime Minister himself acknowledged the role of bank employees,” Josson said.
Jewellery responds
In a statement, T K Ramesh, executive director - marketing, Kalyan Jewellers, said, “We are a business family engaged in trading for the last 114 years. We have utmost respect to your (bankers’) esteemed organisation and have very good relation with many of your members. We, along with crores of countrymen, salute the efforts of our bankers.”
“L&K Satchi, one of our creative agencies, did a storyline for our recent ‘Trust’ campaign series. We understand your esteemed association feels bankers have been portrayed in a bad light. We state it on record it is pure (work of) fiction and at no point we have intended to generalise the bank officers at large,” he said.