An ad by Indira’s Rasam Paste on a Bengaluru bus has created a lot buzz amongst netizens, who aren’t particularly happy with the messaging portrayed. Terms such as “sexist” and “regionalist” are being used wilfully to describe the ad. Conversely, many others felt that there was nothing controversial about the ad.
The ad featured a line that read, “Wife North Indianaaa?” (Translated to – is your wife North Indian?) The ad insinuated that women from North India can’t make rasam.
The ad, since being spotted has gone viral on social media. X-ers have been tweeting about the ad non stop, sharing their opinions. Tejas Dinkar, a user of the platform X was the first to share the ad on the perform. He stated, “Today in ads that manage to be sexist while also insulting both North and South India.”
Today in ads that manage to be sexist while also insulting both North and South India (from r/bangalore) pic.twitter.com/wuyOcoIazi
— Tejas Dinkar (blue tick here) (@tdinkar) January 4, 2024
A debate begun in the comment section of the post, where people were arguing against as well as in favour of the advert. People had some interesting and intriguing opinions on the ad. Everything from the ad not being controversial, to “The only thing insulted is rasam”, to “It should be dal tadka instead of rasam for North Indians.”
Not sure if it's offensive to the millions where the wife is a north Indian home maker.
We need to stop taking offence at every opportunity
— Kan (@kanishkabagaria) January 4, 2024
To be honest Rasam got insulted by this Ad https://t.co/CryRXgwK2j
— Kabali (@Kabali540) January 8, 2024
Also insulting rasam
— Sriram (@tsriram) January 4, 2024
I wonder how big is the target audience for this ad?
— RÄJ (@catdaddyissues) January 4, 2024
Today in ads that manage to be sexist while also insulting both North and South India (from r/bangalore) pic.twitter.com/wuyOcoIazi
— Tejas Dinkar (blue tick here) (@tdinkar) January 4, 2024
Today in ads that manage to be sexist while also insulting both North and South India (from r/bangalore) pic.twitter.com/wuyOcoIazi
— Tejas Dinkar (blue tick here) (@tdinkar) January 4, 2024
It all lies in the eyes of the beholder, they say. Is the ad in poor taste? What you, the readers think?