Kalyan Jewellers is a well-known Indian jewellery brand operational in India since 1993. The brand has positioned itself as a symbol of royalty and class. It has succeeded in all its marketing activities and is well-accepted in the Indian market. However, in 2015 one of its print advertisements misfired, raising controversial remarks on the brand’s ethics leading the particular ad to be withdrawn from circulation with an apology from the brand.

Its 2015 ad featured a very well-known Indian cinema actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who was accused of racism. The Kalyan Jewellers Aishwarya Rai ad showed the actress dressed in royal Indian attire with a European-inspired hairstyle sitting on an indigenous design couch, and she was under the shade of an umbrella which was being held by a young black boy dressed in minimal clothing with a look of innocence.

This advertisement was published in a national daily and circulated across the country raising remarks of reinforcing colonial mentality and promoting racism by being insidiously racist. Prominent media houses of the country like Hindustan Times, NDTV, and Economic Times covered the news causing the brand negative publicity.

Let’s analyze the points that failed public appeal: 

• Significance of regional history: 

While designing any advertisement research and understanding of regional history is a top priority. The target audience of the brand was Indian, India has a history of British colonial oppression and racism on the grounds of skin colour as the majority of the people in the country have a dark skin tone. 

The elements of the ad like the European-inspired hairstyle of the actress and portraying her as extremely fair created a direct link to colonial history, furthermore, the choice of servant depiction was of a black child with minimal clothing, making the people of the country feel inferior and going against the brand’s strategy of resonating Kalyan jewellers with royalty. 

• The rub-off effect: 

The rub-off effect is the impact that is left on someone after coming in contact with another person, it is usually referred to in context with another person but is very prevalent in context to advertisements as well. Here it means how the target audience feels after coming in contact with your advertisement. The rub-off effect in the case of the Kalyan Jewellers Aishwarya rai ad was misery. 

This was due to the depiction of a child in distress, the child had an innocent distress that was clear in the ad, and when people came in contact with the ad they were left feeling sorry for the child while the brand intended to make them feel pride.  

How can we improve the ad and deliver the desired message: 

• Localization of the ad:

Advertisements need to be designed in a way the target audience can resonate and relate with it, this can be done by infusing indigenous elements in the ad. In this ad, this could have been done by showing the actress in a more Indian skin tone like olive to showcase a lighter skin tone instead of white or a preferably darker skin tone. Secondly, the hairstyle could be an Indian-inspired hairstyle like braids or bun which is commonly seen and associated with Indians. This would make people relate to the advertisement. 

• Use of an adult: 

The placement of a child in an ad is a sensitive move and needs to be made with precaution. In the following ad, the child is shown as a slave, which gives rise to the discussion of the promotion of child labour, etc. Instead of depicting staff by a child, the umbrella could have been shown held by a grown man or woman known as ‘Durban’ like commonly seen in Rajasthani culture, as it is a more acceptable representation of ancient Indian royalty.