The TLDR: On Monday, the company withdrew a 45-second ad that featured a Muslim mother-in-law hosting a traditional Hindu ceremony for her pregnant daughter-in-law. On Wednesday, social media was rife with reports of an attack on its store in Gujarat—but no one can agree on what exactly happened in Gandhidham. Raising more questions: a leaked account of the ‘real reason’ why the ad was pulled—which was supposedly triggered by the targeting of a Muslim employee.

Was the store attacked?

What we know happened: A Tanishq store in Gandhidham put up a note apologizing to the local Kutch Hindu community. The hand-written note in Gujarati was posted at the store entrance, and read: “We apologise to the Hindu community of Kutch on the shameful advertisement of Tanishq aired in the media.” See image below:

It has since been removed. But who posted the note and in what circumstances? There are three versions of what happened. 

Version #1 a): Social media outrage was triggered by an NDTV news flash that claimed that the store had been attacked by a mob. But a senior police officer told ANI:

“On Oct 12, two people came to #Tanishq store in Gandhidham & demanded to put up an apology in Gujarati. The shop owner had fulfilled the demand but he was getting threat calls from Kutch. The news about the store being attacked are false.”

The account was confirmed by the store manager who said: "The store has not been attacked. However, I received some threat calls. The police have supported us.”

Version #1 b): Ahmedabad Mirror accessed the store’s CCTV footage and it shows only one person entering the store. A local businessman Ramesh Maitra tells the manager, Rahul Manuja, he has 24 hours to put up the apology note. Manuja, however, complies immediately. 

The Mirror also accessed a video made by Maitra where he says:

“I felt that the advertisement was against my religion and Hindu community. So I went to the store here and asked the manager to tender an apology. He told me that the company had already withdrawn the advertisement and issued an apology. Since they are the only Tanishq store in Gandhidham, I told them that they should apologise, too. They put up the apology after I left… There was no violence or fighting. I am a transport businessman, and would not want anyone's business to suffer. Anyone can check the CCTV footage to confirm this.”

Version #2: The Indian Express offers a very different account of events—based on an interview with Prakash Gupta, the owner of the Tanishq franchise in Gandhidham. According to him:

“...[S]ix to seven persons had barged into the showroom Monday evening before one of them wrote an apology on behalf of the store with a sketch pen on the noticeboard.

 

“They told us that they had objections to an ad released by the company and that they were perceiving it negatively. We told them that we will inform the company about it. Then they wrote on the noticeboard, which we generally use to display the price of gold, that we were apologising to the Hindu community and left.”

Other unnamed staff claimed that the men were part of a large mob that had gathered outside the store. And they “uttered abusive words in the presence of female staff members and female customers.”

One point to note: In another Indian Express report (quoted by Scroll but no longer to be found), a store employee says the store did not file a police complaint because it “did not want any controversy.” Also:  

“Many of our customers have been dialling us and registering their protest and displeasure over the ad campaign… Our daily business has also been affected adversely.”

Bigger point to note: Gujarat’s Home Minister said that any report of an attack on the store is “fake news”—and is threatening to “register a case & take strict action against those who spread” it. NDTV has since changed its reporting.

So Tanishq was wise to pull the ad?

We have one anonymous account that claims that Tanishq was afraid of exactly this kind of threat to the safety of their employees. And that it was triggered by threats made to one of their managers. According to the advertising blog Melt:

“An employee of Tanishq—and his family—was trolled mercilessly and threatened with his life. That one detail was provocation enough for the company to decide to pull the communication—even if the company remained convinced that the ad was well-intentioned and not remotely disturbing. There was only one overriding reason for the decision: the safety of the employee in question.”

The Telegraph reports that the bullying campaign was triggered by Hardik Bhavsar, a rightwing personality who is followed by PM Modi and Amit Shah. He shared the LinkedIn profile of a person with “a Muslim-sounding name” accompanied by the following tweet: “He is the man behind this anti-Hindu ad and campaign. He is brand manager @TanishqJewelry now you all know what to do #BoycottTanishq.”

Soon after, the manager deleted his LinkedIn profile, but another rightwing lawyer tweeted his RocketReach profile with his mobile number and email address. He now appears to have changed his number, as well.

Point to note: The Advertising Standards Council of India received a complaint against the Tanishq advertisement, claiming it is “objectionable since it promoted communal intermingling.” ASCI’s response: “[N]othing in the advertisement was indecent or vulgar or repulsive” and it has no objections to the airing of the ad.

The bottomline: All we have to offer as comment is this lovely ad:

Reading list

Ahmedabad Mirror has the CCTV footage. For the alternative version, read Indian Express. Plus: The Telegraph on the rightwing account that targeted the Tanishq manager. Melt—which initially criticised Tanishq for pulling the ad—offers a heartfelt call for its support.