Hema Malini is the brand ambassador of Kent. A recent advertisement of this brand promoting the atta maker called for a massive backlash on social media. The advertisement appeared to be classist in nature as it spoke about the maid’s hands being infected.
Netizens slammed the brand as well as the actress for making such discrimination. Now, the actress has extended her clarification saying that she supports all sections of the society and that she is not in favour of the advertisement published.
Actor and BJP MP Hema Malini called the controversial advertisement by healthcare products company Kent RO Systems “inappropriate” and said that it doesn’t resonate with her values. “I respect and stand by all sections of society,” she said in a statement after the advertisement for an ”Atta & Bread Maker” drew massive criticism on social media for its “classist” content.
The advertisement, featuring brand ambassador Hema Malini and her daughter Esha Deol, allegedly portrayed house helps in a bad light by depicting them as carriers of infection. “Are you allowing your maid to knead atta dough by hand? Her hands may be infected,” read the ad for Kent’s Atta and Bread Maker, encouraging customers to invest in a product that would knead dough hands-free.
The advertisement didn’t go down well with many on the social media who accused the brand of being “classist”. “In a classist way, the ad suggests that only a maid’s hand could be unclean,” wrote one Twitter user. After facing a massive backlash, the Noida-based firm took the advertisement down and issued a public apology this afternoon.
“Please accept our sincere apologies for having published the Ad of Kent Atta & Bread Maker. It was unintentional but wrongly communicated and it has been withdrawn,” wrote the company’s chairman, Mahesh Gupta, on Twitter.
The Dhoom actress has also posted the same statement on her Twitter account.