#No Bindi No Business: Jewellery stores show women sporting a kumkum in all their Diwali advertisements

Jewellery stores change their advertisements after being pressured by Hindus

(Credits: Twitter)

Mumbai 13 November (News) – Many jewellers who had earlier made advertisements of women with #no bindis on their foreheads have now made several changes. In this year’s Diwali advertisements, all the women can be seen wearing a kumkum as per Hindu tradition. Most of the jewellery advertisements from the previous year had women with #no bindis on their foreheads. This list included jewellers like Tanishq, Malabar Gold, PN Gadgil, PC Chandra etc.

In the past year, most of these jewellers had shown many advertisements during Hindu festivals with women not wearing any Bindis. Hence, the famous Hindu writer Shefali Vaidya had called for a boycott of these jewellers on social media through the Hashtag ‘#NoBindiNoBusiness’. Meaning establishments which did not show women with Bindis on their foreheads would be financially boycotted. In its 2022 Akshaya Tritiya advertisements ‘Malabar Gold and Diamond Jewellers’ did not show women with kumkum on their foreheads. Hindu Janajagruti Samiti had also called for a ban with the hashtags ‘#NoBindi_NoBusiness’ and ‘#Boycott_MalabarGold’. After this agitation, the advertisement was withdrawn by Malabar Gold and Diamond Jewellers. Many of this year’s Diwali advertisements have shown women with ornaments, as well as bindis on their foreheads. This is due to the fears of a financial hit due to the timely protests by Hindus.