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On
February 14, 2007, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry of
India issued a show-cause notice to Nimbus Communication
(Nimbus), a private broadcaster, for showing ads that were
alleged to be racist during the India-West Indies cricket series
that was held between January 21 and January 31, 2007. The
Ministry alleged that these ads showed West Indians in poor
light.
Nimbus' Neo Sports (Neo) had the telecast rights for the
India-West Indies and the India-Sri Lanka series in India.
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In January 2007, Nimbus launched an ad campaign with
the pay-off line 'Its tough being a West Indian in India'. One of these
ads showed a West Indian, desperately searching for some water to drink
as he is unable to handle the spicy Indian food, but the Indians put
their fingers and dentures into the water to deny him from having a
drink.
Another ad showed a boatman taking a West Indian couple on a boat-ride.
Upon reaching the middle of the lake, the boatman throws off the oars
into the lake and disrobes (giving the impression that there would be an
assault on the girl), then, jumps into the lake leaving the couple stuck
in the center of the lake.
Media experts opined that what Nimbus thought
was a creative way of showing the competitive spirit in India, and
create hype around its new channel, had actually trod a fine line
between creative advertising and respecting ethical sensibilities.
Some critics felt that the two ads shown in the campaign were in bad
taste and offensive as it showed people being mistreated on the basis of
nationality/color. The ads were also criticized for showing Indians in
bad light as India was known for its hospitality.
Atithi Devo Bhava or
'The Guest is God' is ingrained in the Indian culture and the Indian
Tourism Ministry had adopted this slogan as part of their 'Incredible
India campaign'. The ads that showed Indians putting tourists in trouble
was clearly not in sync with this communication.
A public interest
litigation (PIL) was filed against Neo, which demanded that Neo pay Rs 2
billion as 'damages' to the Union Government for hurting the "Indian
pride and sentiments". The Advertising Standards Council of India's (ASCI)
too received complaints against the ads.
Nimbus had defended its ads and denied the allegations of racism. It
said the idea behind the ads was 'light hearted'. Some ad experts too
supported this view and said that the ads was designed to make the
audience laugh by showing the competitive spirit and passion for cricket
in India in a creative way.
In fact, the ad agency that created these
ads, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), was highly regarded for its creative
advertising and had consistently won awards for creative excellence in
advertising.
For instance, in March 2007, it had won the 'Creative
Agency of the year' award in the coveted 40th Annual Abby Awards, with a
tally of 20 Golds, 47 Silvers and 2 Special Golds.
O&M too defended the
ads and pointed out that though ASCI had asked Neo to stop airing the
first ad, it had cleared its other ads including ads in another similar
campaign with pay-off line 'Now, even Sri Lankans will have a tough time
in India'. There was also no mention of racism by ASCI at that time.
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