A one-and-a-half-minute long advertisement for a Kerala-based jewelry chain featuring Amitabh Bachhan and his daughter Shweta Bachhan Nanda has come under attack from a bank union which termed it “disgusting” and aimed at creating distrust in the banking system. As per reports, AIBOC general secretary Soumya Datta alleged that the theme, tone and tenor of the ad were “disgusting, derogatory, to say the least, and is aimed to create distrust in the banking system, for purely commercial gain.” All India Bank Officers’ Confederation, an organization claiming to have the membership of around 3,20,000 officers, today threatened to sue Kalyan Jewellers accusing it of “casting aspersion and hurting the sentiments of millions of personnel” through the advertisement. Rejecting this allegation, Kalyan Jewellers made an official statement which read;
It was pure fiction. “We understand that your esteemed association feels that the bankers have been portrayed in bad light. We state it on record that it is a pure fiction and at no point we have intended to generalize the bank officers at large,”
“Please accept our unconditional disclaimer for the same. We shall within three working days from today add characters and situations depicted are fictional. The brand does not intend to disrespect or malign any person or community’ before the advertisement,”
In the ad, Bachchan is seen as a person with integrity and honesty, is seen visiting a bank branch along with his daughter to return the extra money credited in his pension account and his bitter encounter with bank employees in the process.“The advertisement portrays banks in a bad light, casting aspersion, hurting the sentiment of millions of personnel, stakeholders and is a direct attempt to ruin the trust and confidence of billions of citizenries in banks,” Datta said.