I & B Ministry suspends deodorant ad after criticism over promoting “rape culture”

On Twitter, a body spray company is being chastised for making a serious subject like rape seem trivial.

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An Indian body spray brand has been chastised on Twitter after running two adverts that people found very unpleasant and spread rape culture. One of the advertisements has four guys debating who gets the "shot" on the last remaining bottle of perfume, but instead of the bottle, it depicts a lady. The other shows a group of men coming into a bedroom and discussing taking a shot, but it's actually about the body spray. Riffing on one of the most severe situations facing humanity isn't it, and Twitter users weren't shy about saying so.

Swati Maliwal, the head of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), filed a letter to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur about the advertisement, requesting action, and also issued a notice to the Delhi Police. According to ANI, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has ordered the campaign to be halted, and an investigation into the advertising code is presently underway.

The commercial appears to be both trivializing and capitalizing on a worry that most women experience on a daily basis.