After Tanishq recently pulled down a jewellery ad that celebrated an interfaith couple amid trolling on social media websites, advertisement bodies came together to reiterate the fundamental right to expression, and condemned the online "aggression".
Calling it "a baseless and irrelevant attack on creative expression", The Advertising Club India called the attack on the advertisement "extremely concerning".
The advertisement body added, "The industry allied bodies of IAA and AAAI ... together stand by the team at Tanishq and against such aggression."
Many were not amused by the 45-second ad showing a baby shower thrown for a Hindu bride by her Muslim in-laws.
A section of people on Twitter called for a boycott of the brand for promoting the interfaith couple through the ad, and trolled Tanishq for its stand which led to the brand first disabling comments and likes/dislikes on its ad on YouTube, and later, withdrawing the video altogether.
The India chapter of the International Advertising Association, also offered support.
In a statement addressing the issue, the body wrote, "The events which led to the recent Tanishq advertisement being pulled back are very unfortunate."
"While we respect the opinion of every individual on subject matters, these should not descend to illegal threats and anti-social behaviour," the statement said.
In a call to action, the ad body appealed the concerned Governments "to take a serious view of such intimidating behaviour and take exemplary action where required."
Attack on Tanishq store?
Meanwhile, A Tanishq jewellery showroom in Gandhidham town of Gujarat's Kutch district put up a note on its door, apologising to Hindus in the district over the brand's controversial TV ad, police said on Wednesday.
Police said some persons had asked the store owner to put the apology note in Gujarati so that more people could understand it and said that the store was not attacked.
Tanishq spokesperson said in a statement, "We are deeply saddened with the inadvertent stirring of emotions and withdraw this film keeping in mind the hurt sentiments and well being of our employees, partners and store staff."
As #BoycottTanishq trended, the ad also received support for promoting religious harmony, notably from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor who said, "So Hindutva bigots have called for a boycott of Tanishq Jewelry for highlighting Hindu-Muslim unity through this beautiful ad."
(With inputs from PTI)