Dear editor,
This is with regards to a letter I wrote to the team at
Partnership, Dubai nearly a week ago. Unfortunately, I have received no
reply.
In the letter, I referred to the ad done by them for Home Centre
for their ‘genuine leather’ sofas. The ad had shown these genuine
leather sofas in the midst of savannah-like forests, which would be home
to water buffaloes and other animals.
The ad obviously implied that the leather was pure, at the cost of
mocking the value of innocent animals. Is it not bad enough that we
strip their skins off brutally to adorn our behinds with comfortable
sofas, but we also need to mock their environment by replacing them with
the accessorised version of their by-products?
Please let me reiterate that I am not an environmentalist or a
‘PETA Member’. I am but a citizen of our world who feels it is essential
to wield the freedom of expression with a sense of
responsibility.
Being in advertising, it is always good to see ads that play on
humour or tickle the mind with their subliminal themes, but this
particular ad doesn’t seem to do the same. It is, simply put, in bad
taste.
I would appreciate it if we could communicate to the client or
agency to stop this campaign and also make the people in the business
aware of the fact that such ads do nothing but tamper with
goodwill.
It is very plausible that no one actually cares and, as always, the
world will go on. But this small drop in the ocean is definitely
promoting harm and insensitivity amongst people. I believe that a small
attempt to fix it at this moment could certainly be a start. After all,
we need to begin somewhere to help the greater cause. We should use our
offices to do something together to avoid such ads from seeing and
polluting the face of papers again.
Sagar Rege
Head of film division
PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE or [email protected]
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