Can creative integrity survive the hypersensitive times unscathed?

We are living in hypersensitive times. Freedom of expression –a right given to every Indian citizen by the Constitution of India – ensures that everyone has an equal say, is able to voice their opinion on different matters, is free to convey their thoughts in a judicious manner, without prejudice and malice.

Going by the strong opinionated troll army on social media today and the ramifications of the vitriol that they spread, it seems that this Freedom of Expression has been stretched in the wrong direction. It has become ‘My say or the highway’.

We have been seeing ample examples of this for some time now. Of course, not every social media outburst is counter-productive. Voices raised against the increasing cases of assault on women and children, price rise, unemployment, regressive thinking, toxic patriarchy and, of course, nepotism and drug abuse in Bollywood, have led to some positive developments.

But the fringe armies and the mob mentality on social media are now beginning to impact free thought of creators. We have seen films, ad campaigns and all manner of creative art face the collective backlash of this largely anonymous entity – whether just or unjust.

Particularly in 2022, we have seen several Bollywood films face the #boycott phenomenon for reasons as varied as the people criticising them – from something an actor said a long time ago, to regressive content, to offending religious sentiments, to being historically incorrect, you name it and the reasons have been recounted.

‘Laal Singh Chadha’, ‘Samrat Prithviraj’, ‘Brahmastra’, as well as the entire controversy created over the upcoming film ‘Adipurush’ – all have faced this #boycott army.

Earlier, one would recall the Karni Sena and how they forced the makers of ‘Padmavati’ to change the name of the film to ‘Padmavat’ and also make changes in the film’s story.

The ad angle

Ad campaigns, too, have not been spared by this troll army. The latest instance has been that of AU Small Finance Bank, whch featured Aamir Khan and Kiara Advani as a newly married couple entering their new home. Khan is shown walking into the house first ahead of the bride. This was heavily criticised as going against the Hindu tradition of the bride entering the house first and bringing in prosperity and blessings to her new home.

Don’t mess with my religion, my political beliefs, my traditions, the societal order; don’t tell me how to celebrate festivals – these are the messages that are emanating out of tweets, feeds, Reels and every manner of social media means of expression.

Not that long ago, we saw an innocuous Surf Excel ad featuring a Hindu girl helping her Muslim friend out on Holi being vilified as insensitive to a certain section and even termed as ‘love jihad’! A Tanishq ad showing a Muslim family celebrating the baby shower for their Hindu bahu was also heavily trolled. Another Tanishq ad around Diwali, which had women share about how they are celebrating the festival of lights, was also slammed on social media, with people saying, ‘don’t tell us how to celebrate our festivals’. Such was the hatred around these campaigns that Tanishq was forced to withdraw both of them. In the case of the Diwali ad, there were media reports on some Tanishq outlets being attacked by mobs.

Incidentally, AU Small Finance Bank has also withdrawn it ad featuring Aamir Khan, ironically called ‘Badlav humse hai’.

Ad industry in these hypersensitive times

What does all this augur for the advertising industry, for which unfettered creative thinking and execution is its very soul? Will it succumb to this boycott brouhaha? Irreverence, quirkiness, thinking out of the box, challenging outdated myths and stereotypes – ad campaigns have been led by creative thought processes that convey the brand message in a relevant and memorable way.

One still remembers the ads by Italian clothing brand Benetton, most of which thrived on controversial imageries and tended to shock and awe – a white child dressed up as an angel, while the black child is made up to look like the devil; the photo of a dying HIV positive patient; a priest kissing a nun while both are in habit; news images of violence and bloodshed; Pope Benedict XVI and imam Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb shown kissing (which was part of Benetton’s Unhate series of ads). The Pope ad was withdrawn after massive protests and legal action by the Vatican.

We cannot even think of any Indian brand or ad agency willing to experiment with that level of controversial ads. The question here is not about creating controversy as an ad strategy, but seemingly non-controversial and innocuous ad campaigns getting mired in controversy without any intention.

Today, one can never be sure whether an ad campaign, created with the best intentions, will end up offending some faction or the other. Fringe armies can rise out of nowhere and create mayhem – online and offline.

Working amid such uncertain and hypersensitive times makes the work for the creative think tank of brands and ad agencies all the more difficult. When one is more concerned about safeguarding the brand from the troll army and avoiding conflicts with any faction – therein begin the curbs on the free creative thought process. Steering away from topics that will lead to problems becomes the diktat – topics around religion, politics, history, culture, tradition. Do not question set social norms. As per some media reports, brands and agencies are even going to the extent of getting their ad campaigns ratified by brand consultants and legal experts before releasing them.

This brings us to the very important question of will such a safety-first strategy compromise creative integrity of brand campaigns? Will we see a more sanitised approach to campaign strategy?