Burger ad: Storm in a teacup

A recent ad for Burger King produced a storm. It was, fortunately, restricted to the metaphorical teacup. The ad, released locally in Spain, featured Goddess Lakshmi sitting atop a burger. The Spanish headline translates as ‘Sacred Snack’.

Hindus around the world condemned the ad. Some wrote blogs threatening violence. Burger King withdrew the ad, stating that no offence was intended. Your columnist was part of a debate about the burger ad on an Indian news channel. It did not turn out to be much of a debate as all of us on the panel concurred that this ad was a mistake and the anchor hastily concluded the segment.

 

There is a back story to this damp squib unipolar non-debate: Just as we were about to go on air a right-wing political group made a menacing call. As background material for this developing story, the channel had shown Hindu deities featured on a variety of items sold abroad, from T-shirts to toilet seat covers. The political group chose to see the beaming of these images as an insult to Hindu religion.

They said ‘they were watching’ and that they would ‘do something’ if they perceived any further provocation.

My stated position on the programme was that the ad was offensive though probably a genuine mistake as Burger King had nothing to gain by risking a boycott by sensitive Hindus around the world.

However, had the right wingers not been breathing down our necks, I would have added that I uphold the right of anyone to offend my beliefs. As long as the offensive statements do not violate the laws of the land, be my guest. It is all too easy to label a statement as ‘hate speech’ and exclude it from the purview of the freedom of expression.

I would prefer to earn respect for my beliefs by convincing others of their validity rather than clobber people into accepting them. And if they do not accept my beliefs, let us agree to disagree. A swastika is an auspicious symbol for Hindu. It is freely used in Indian advertising campaigns. But for Jews it stands for the purest form of evil. Should we therefore ban it? One man’s meat is a vegetarian’s poison. Ought vegetarians, therefore, to ransack studios of TV channels that carry any burger advertisements?

If every book, film or ad that offends a politician, industrialist or religious group is muzzled with the threat of violence then we lose Liberty and move towards a totalitarian country.

That is certainly not a place I would wish to live in.

(The author is Executive Creative Director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather)