Man Shares Story Of Actor-Friend Who Refused Layer¡¯r Shot Ad Saying It 'Demeans' Women

Abbas Mirza, senior creative director of Kinnect, a digital marketing agency, shared a real-life story of his actor friend. In a long post, Mirza praised his actor-friend Saurabh Verma, who turned down a 'problematic' commercial.

Screengrab

Mirza wrote that Verma was supposed to be a part of the infamous and problematic Layer¡¯r Shot ads.

Screengrab

The "Controversial" commercial, aired on June 4¡ªdrew a massive backlash for promoting "rape culture."

In a post shared on June 16th, Abbas Mirza wrote that his actor friend, Saurabh Verma, turned down the offer after a casting agent approached him to be a part of the ads.

According to the screenshot of the Whatsapp chat shared by Mirza, the casting team confirmed that despite Saurabh's request for a script change, they'd be going ahead.

After Saurabh Verma's plea was turned down and the group decided to go ahead with the 'problematic' script, the actor rejected the ad.

Screengrab/Abbas Mirza's Linkedin Post

Mirza wrote, "And for the people who work in advertising and are aware of the production-house or actor power equation, they will understand how audacious the demand is,"

Mirza's post also throws light on the fact that despite getting a reminder to revise the script, the team went ahead without Verma and continued their plans of making and airing the ad.

Read Abbas Mirza's full post here:

Both Saurabh and Abbas are winning praises on the internet.

Linkedin Screengrab

The two ads of the perfume brand Layer Shot sparked outrage among a large section of social media users, who claimed the advertisements sought to promote sexual violence against women.

While the problematic ad was taken off the air, the brand extended an apology, again touted as an excuse rather than an apology.

Twitter

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry asked Twitter and YouTube to remove the videos of the publicity from their social media platforms.

Reuters

In letters to Twitter and YouTube, the ministry had said the videos were ¡°detrimental to the portrayal of women in the interest of decency and morality¡± and violated Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code).

The I&B ministry had also said that the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) found the videos in violation of its guidelines and asked the advertiser to suspend the advertisement immediately.

(With PTI inputs)

For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.