After #BoycottFabIndia sparks row, clothing brand withdraws ad campaign

FabIndia, a popular clothing brand, known for ethnic wear found itself embroiled in a controversy for their latest ad campaign.  The ad was on their latest clothing collection, titled ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’, which was aimed as a big launch, to tie in with the current festive season.

FabIndia had tweeted out the collection on October 9, with the post, “As we welcome the festival of love and light, Jashn-e-Riwaaz, by FabIndia is a collection that beautifully pays homage to Indian culture…”. The post featured men and women adorning festive, Indian ethnic clothing in a vibrant shade of red.

However, the tweet was removed by FabIndia on Monday and the ad was pulled as well after an uproar erupted on social media that basically accused the clothing brand of ‘damaging the Hindu festival of Diwali’.

#boycottFabIndia started to trend on Twitter, with many users asking for an immediate boycott of the brand. BJP Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya too joined the uproar on social media and tweeted, “Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out. And brands like @FabindiaNews must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures,” wrote Surya, who also tagged FabIndia in the post, and linked the said tweet in his post.

Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz.

This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out.

And brands like @FabindiaNews must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures. https://t.co/uCmEBpGqsc

— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) October 18, 2021

Many other netizens called out FabIndia for unnecessarily trying to infuse religions, and trying to impose a ‘secular’ world view on a Hindu festival.