Indian bankers plan legal action against Kalyan Jewellers for allegedly defamatory ad

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Jul 20, 2018

Kalyan Jewellers new TVC, featuring brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan along with his daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda has sparked a controversy with the bank union demanding immediate withdrawal of the ad.
 

The All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) is planning to take legal action against Kalyan Jewellers as they feel that the new advertisement shows the entire banking community in bad light.
 
“The advertisement portrays banks in bad light, casting aspersion, hurting the sentiment of millions of personnel, stakeholders and is a direct attempt to ruin the trust and confidence of billions of citizenries in banks,” AIBOC general secretary Soumya Datta said in a statement.

Datta added, “We express our strong resentment against the management of Kalyan Jewellers and Mr Bachchan who have manifested a negative and false image of the Banks in the ad for their personal aggrandizement.”
 
“We deem it as a case of defamation to all the banks as a whole. If the advertisement is not withdrawn, suitable organisational action, including dharnas and litigation would be initiated,” he further added.
 
According to a PTI report, Kalyan Jewellers has rejected the allegation saying the ad was ‘pure fiction’. To pacify the agitating bankers it had agreed to add a disclaimer to the advertisement.
 
“We understand that your esteemed association feels that the bankers have been portrayed in bad light. We state it on record that it is a pure fiction and at no point we have intended to generalize the bank officers at large,” Kalyan jewellers said in a letter to Datta.