Aishwarya Rai's Kalyan Jewellers ad which appeared in a leading daily has become a point of discussion every where. In the ad, The Actress is seen as a person of fair skinned and wealthy. What made it raise eye-brows is the presence of a slave child who is dar skinner & poor holding an umbrella for her. Hence, The Beauty Queen has to deal with allegations of racist and promoting child labour.
A Group of Activists namely Farah Naqvi, Nisha Agrawal and Other have written an open letter to Aishwarya Rai appealing her to disassociate herself from the ad as it could send wrong message to her fans.
Open Letter: Dear Mrs Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,
We write to draw your attention to a full-page advertisement for Kalyan Jewellers in which you feature that appeared in The Hindu (Delhi edition) on April 17, 2015. In the advertisement you appear to be representing aristocracy from a bygone era bejewelled, poised and relaxing while an obviously underage slave-child, very dark and emaciated, struggles to hold an oversize umbrella over your head.
Further, the extremely fair colour of your skin (as projected in the advertisement) contrasted with the black skin of the slave-boy is obviously a deliberate creative juxtaposition by the advertising agency, and insidiously racist.
In response, Aishwarya Rai's Publicist clarified photo shoot of the actress was done separately and the image of the boy in the background was entirely the work of the creative team of the Jewellery Brand.
A Group of Activists namely Farah Naqvi, Nisha Agrawal and Other have written an open letter to Aishwarya Rai appealing her to disassociate herself from the ad as it could send wrong message to her fans.
Open Letter: Dear Mrs Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,
We write to draw your attention to a full-page advertisement for Kalyan Jewellers in which you feature that appeared in The Hindu (Delhi edition) on April 17, 2015. In the advertisement you appear to be representing aristocracy from a bygone era bejewelled, poised and relaxing while an obviously underage slave-child, very dark and emaciated, struggles to hold an oversize umbrella over your head.
Further, the extremely fair colour of your skin (as projected in the advertisement) contrasted with the black skin of the slave-boy is obviously a deliberate creative juxtaposition by the advertising agency, and insidiously racist.
In response, Aishwarya Rai's Publicist clarified photo shoot of the actress was done separately and the image of the boy in the background was entirely the work of the creative team of the Jewellery Brand.