Waman Hari Pethe (WHP) Jewellers, which has a chain of showrooms in Mumbai and other places, has decided to put a bindi on the foreheads of all their models.
During Deepavali in 2021, prominent activist Shefali Vaidya of Pune had started the hashtag ‘No Bindi, No Business’, following which several jewelers and sari sellers made sure their models sported bindis.
However, WHP continued to have a few hoardings in Chembur and other places showing their models without bindis.
WHP adopts new policy
Megha Jadhav, the head of the advertising department of WHP told the Free Press Journal that the company had adopted the policy to have bindis on the foreheads of all their models. However, somehow in a few hoardings, the bindis were missing. “When we realised our mistake, we decided to have them painted on the models. This was a collective decision to avoid any controversy and also show our respect to Hindu culture,” Jadhav said.
Earlier, WHP, Tanishq, Fab India and other brands were trolled for being “ignorant of Hindu culture”. Vaidya, who has 44,900 followers on Instagram, told the FPJ on Saturday that the social media campaign was very effective as it compelled companies to take corrective measures. In the past, several other ads had also fallen foul of Hindu activists.
