The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) on Wednesday expressed concerns regarding the recent incident where threats were made against Tanishq and its employees over its latest ad campaign.
“The AAAI disapproves of the targeting of the recent Tanishq ad featuring an interfaith couple. The threats against Tanishq as well as its employees, which led to the withdrawal of the advertisement, are a matter of great regret and concern,” it said in a statement.
The AAAI also said that “there is a consensus among all allied bodies and The International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter and The Advertising Club also support this.”
Earlier, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) stated that the advertisement in question was viewed by its Consumer Complaints Council, and that the ad has not violated the ASCI codes.
“The panel was unanimous that nothing in this advertisement was indecent or vulgar or repulsive, which is likely in the light of generally prevailing standards of decency and propriety, to cause grave and widespread offence,” ASCI stated.
It added that it has, “ no objection to the airing of this advertisements should the advertiser choose to do so.”