Priyanka Chopra blasts offensive body spray ad, calls it ‘disgusting’: ‘How many people thought this was okay?’

Shameful and disgusting. How many levels of clearances did it take for this commercial to be green lit. How many people thought this was ok? I’m so glad that it was called out and now the ministry has taken it down. Appalling!

— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) June 4, 2022

Farhan wrote, “What incredibly tasteless and twisted minds it must take to think up, approve and create these stinking body spray ‘gang rape’ innuendo ads..!! Shameful.” Swara Bhaskar took to her Instagram stories and wrote, “So we’re making jokes about gang rape now?”

What incredibly tasteless and twisted minds it must take to think up, approve and create these stinking body spray ‘gang rape’ innuendo ads..!! Shameful.

— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) June 4, 2022

Hrithik Roshan is “shocked and appalled” by the advertisement. (Photo: Hrithik Roshan/Instagram)

Hrithik Roshan express his shock at the commercial and wondered how the team associated with the ad think it was okay. He also praised viewers for calling it our and thanked regulatory bodies for their probe.

Sona Mohapatra shared a tweet, wrote, “Theme – Gang-rape. Gagging after I saw it here on my Twitter timeline & wondering if giving them additional publicity is worse.”

In the advertisement, a couple share a close moment in a room, where four men enter and say they want a ‘shot’. Just as she looks frightened, they answer that they want the body spray. In another ad, the girl is in the store with her boyfriend when the same men enter and the cycle is repeated.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has ordered the suspension of the advertisement, according to news agency ANI. An inquiry has also been initiated.

I&B Ministry, in a letter addressed to Twitter and YouTube stated, “The above-mentioned videos are detrimental to the portrayal of women in the interest of decency or morality, and in violation of rule 3(1)(b)(ii) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which inter-alia provides that the users shall not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information which is insulting or harassing on the basis of gender.”

“It may be mentioned that the concerned videos were also broadcast on TV. In this regard, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the body which lays down the Code for self-regulation in advertising on TV in accordance with rule 7(2)(ix) of the Cable Television Network Rules 1994, has also found the video to be in violation of its guidelines. In this regard, ASCI has notified the advertiser to suspend the ad on an immediate basis,” the letter further said.