Surf Excel is a brand under Unilever and is one of the most popular detergent brands in India. It has managed to stay hooked to the Indian audience due to multiple reasons; effective product pricing, and its marketing campaigns. One of its longest-running campaigns is “daag acche Hai”. Under this campaign, the brand came up with multiple advertisements that highlighted clothes gathering dirt as a result of some good deed. Hence the “daag” dirt is good.

The Daag Acche Hai campaign was an overall success except for when the brand became subject to controversial remarks for its advertisement aired during the Holi season in March 2019. The Surf Excel Holi ad was of kids playing Holi and stopping the celebration for a child who had to get out of his house to go to the mosque to offer namaz. The Hindu girl was shown saving the Muslim boy from getting attacked by colors from other kids, and the ad concluded on the note of the boy promising to play Holi after Namaz.

The advertisement aimed at spreading a message of communal harmony, by showing two communities being respectful of each other’s culture. The message however got interpreted by the audience in a way unanticipated by the brand, the Holi ad gathered backlash under the accusations of being Hindu phobic, promotion of love jihad, and portrayal of Holi in a bad light. The Surf Excel ad controversy was covered by mainstream media like ABP news in its article. 

Let’s look into the elements that triggered controversy:

• Brands ignorance of recent political activities:

It was in October 2018 that the city of Allahabad was renamed to Prayag Raj. This decision was on the grounds of reverting the major changes brought to the country by Mughal rulers, by restoring the ancient culture. Another impact of the decision on the public was, religious sentiments of people were stirred which made them vulnerable to any depiction of cultural customs, this caused over-analysis of simple statements and in this case the advertisement. It’s important to be aware of the current status of the audience to understand how any message can be interpreted by the audience. 

• Highlighting the negative aspects of the festival: 

The beginning of the advertisement was of children throwing colours at random strangers without their consent as it showed a man trying to cover himself and children throwing colours at him. This portrayal continued making it the whole theme of the advertisement as the boy going to offer namaz needed to be saved. The negativity is what got absorbed by the audience making it a subject of remarks like ‘hinduphobic’. 

• Selective perception in advertising :

Selective perception is when people centre their attention on a certain stimulus ignoring other stimuli that they don’t align with their beliefs and opinions. In this advertisement the audience centred their attention on the friendship which they considered a ground for affectionate feelings between a Hindu girl and Muslim boy, making them question the advertisement for the promotion of Love Jihad, they ignored the other stimuli that were of both kids promising to enjoy the festival together, as it did not align with their the then ideologies.

How the advertisement should have handled the sensitive topic:

• Communicating festive spirit by ad:

Holi is the festival of colours known for bringing people together. The advertisement could have shown kids or kids and adults playing Holi together consensually in a Holi party or similar setup. When everyone is enjoying the festival, this would give out a positive feeling to the viewers making them look at the advertisement with an optimistic mindset. 

• Using both genders equally:

Since the topic is sensitive criticism could have been avoided by both the communities being portrayed by the same gender, both boys or both girls. This would have communicated the message of community harmony efficiently and improved the ad experience for the viewers. 

In the advertisement it was shown the girls were understanding while the boys were inconsiderate, this changed the narrative, the roles should have been divided; when a boy tried to throw colour at the Muslim boy and the girl tried to stop him, and the Muslim boy was helped by a girl being the main theme.

As important as it is to address social issues it is important to make sure the message is well received by the audience. A lot of times the job of interpretation is left to the audience, while it is the marketer’s job to design advertisements that get perceived in a way favourable to the business, delivering its intended message.