GIVA pulls Kriti Sanon’s Rakhi ad after online backlash

MUMBAI: Twenty-four hours. That is roughly how long it took jewellery brand GIVA to go from launching a festive campaign to quietly pulling it off every platform. The advertisement featured Kriti Sanon tying a rakhi to her brother and, controversially, to her pet dog, while dressed in an Indo-Western outfit combining a bralette, skirt and cape. Social media did not take kindly to the styling choice for a traditional festival, and the brand blinked first.

GIVA’s statement, posted across its social channels, struck a conciliatory note rather than a defensive one. The company said it held the highest regard for Indian culture, traditions and festivals, and that if the advertisement had inadvertently hurt sentiments, that was never the intention. Out of respect, it said, the advertisement had been withdrawn from all media, closing with festive good wishes rather than a fight.

The row escalated quickly once BJP MP Kangana Ranaut weighed in on her Instagram Stories, calling the outfit choice creepy and questioning why a rakhi would be tied while wearing what she described as innerwear-adjacent clothing, when Indian fashion offers so many other options. It is the kind of remark from Ranaut, known for her outspoken commentary on cultural and social matters, that reliably turns a brand’s marketing headache into a full-blown news cycle.

Sanon, notably, did not rush to respond. She stayed quiet through much of the day before posting her own note on Instagram in the afternoon, pushing back firmly. Culture and tradition, she argued, live in the heart and not in the neckline, and Indian fashion has evolved well beyond any single acceptable silhouette. A woman’s respect for her culture, she wrote, should not be measured by her clothing alone. She went further to defend the more contentious element of the ad, the dog, explaining that rakhi is fundamentally a bond of protection extended between siblings, and that for her, that promise and prayer extends naturally to her pets too, since they are family all the same.

What stands out here is how measured both sides ultimately were. GIVA did not dig in or turn defensive, choosing instead to withdraw the ad promptly and apologise without qualification, a sensible instinct for any brand caught in a fast-moving culture row during a high-visibility festive season. Sanon, for her part, waited out the initial noise rather than reacting in the heat of the moment, then responded with a considered, values-based defence rather than an angry rebuttal. In an environment where celebrity endorsements and brand campaigns can unravel spectacularly within hours, that combination of a quick brand climbdown and a composed celebrity response is about as clean an outcome as either party could have hoped for.