By Anirban Sinha Roy: A complaint was filed against the CEO of Coca-Cola India and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui with the Kolkata Police for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Bengali community in its advertisement of Sprite. The ‘joke’ cracked in the ad allegedly hurt the Bengali community and is derogatory, the complaint said.
“The main advertisement by Coca-Cola for its product Sprite was in Hindi. And we have no problems with that. We only have a problem with Bengali dubbing of the ad which is running on various TV channels and websites. Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui is laughing at one of the jokes, which says, ‘shoja anguley ghee na uthley, Bangali khali petey ghumiye porey’. In English, it means that if Bengalis don’t get anything easily, they sleep hungry. And this, we think, hurts the sentiments of the Bengali community,” the petitioner, who is also an advocate of the Calcutta High Court, Dibyayan Banerji, said.
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The famous Bengali idiom, on which the ad is based, says: “Shoja anguley ghee na uthley, angul bekatey hoy”, which means that if something cannot be achieved simply, you must go beyond to achieve it.
Banerji further said, “There is nothing offensive in the Hindi advertisement. But it attracts section 66A of the IT Act and also section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. We also want this type of shallow act and gimmicks to not be promoted in the future.”
Following the complaint and protest, the advertisement was pulled from TV and social media platforms. On Twitter, Sprite India wrote in Bengali, “We deeply regret our recent Bengali ad campaign for Sprite and are withdrawing this unintentional mistake from the Bengali media immediately. Our company gives due respect to the Bengali language and takes pride in platforms like Coke Studio Bangla, which attaches great importance to the respect and prestige of our Bengal. We are committed to preserving respect and the heritage of the state through our service, new investments, CSR, and social consciousness.”
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