Every year, Indian festivals now seem to arrive with two things: the festival itself and a controversy. Sometimes the controversy arrives before the sweets; sometimes it is manufactured faster than the festival discount campaign. So, as we begin the 2026 festival season, GIVA has perhaps provided the internet with its Raksha Bandhan controversy. Its advertisement featuring Kriti Sanon shows her celebrating Raksha Bandhan, tying a Rakhi to her brother and then extending the gesture to the family dog. The intended message appears simple enough: Pets Are Family Too, and most pet lovers and pet parents would probably understand it immediately and maybe a few buy what is being sold. But for some, it is an attack on Indian Culture.
With pet ownership growing and pets increasingly becoming part of the emotional architecture of Indian families, GIVA should perhaps be congratulated for recognising a changing consumer reality. (watch the ad here)
Unfortunately, the social-media hawks waiting for a culturally suspicious creative had a much more ambitious interpretation. They noticed Kriti’s dress, the missing puja thali and, naturally, the dog, after which the unofficial Cultural Emergency Department of India went into immediate operation. The advertisement said, “Pets are family,” while social media apparently heard, “Civilisation is collapsing.” It is a remarkable achievement of modern communication that three perfectly ordinary elements can be assembled into one extraordinary cultural emergency. Traditional festivity. Modern outrage.
The clothes are, of course, worth discussing, although perhaps not with the seriousness of a national security briefing. Personally, I think there could have been better choices. But that is a creative criticism, not a cultural crime.
What a woman wears is ultimately her decision, and her outfit neither defines the dignity of her relationship with her brother nor determines the sanctity of Raksha Bandhan. A bralette-style blouse does not suddenly make a brother-sister relationship less sacred.
And perhaps this is where Osho’s questioning of our obsession with the external becomes relevant: why are we so busy policing appearances when the meaning of a relationship lies somewhere deeper? You may dislike the styling, and someone can quite reasonably say, “Arre yaar, Rakhi hai, kuch traditional pehna hota.” Fair enough; taste is personal and creative decisions are always open to criticism. But turning a fashion choice into an attack on culture requires a few additional rounds of mental gymnastics, perhaps followed by a suitably dramatic YouTube thumbnail.
Maybe the client had just watched Cocktail 2 and said, “Kriti looks fantastic; let’s use this look,” and nobody in the meeting was brave enough to say, “But sir, Rakhi hai. Think of Indian Culture”
The internet, meanwhile, has created a wonderful new profession: the Festival Cultural Auditor, a position requiring no qualification, appointment letter or even familiarity with the advertisement. All you need is a YouTube channel, an active Facebook or X account, a sufficiently outraged expression and a thumbnail saying “HINDU CULTURE UNDER ATTACK!!!” Add a red arrow pointing at Kriti, a burning diya, three question marks and, preferably, the phrase “You won’t believe what happens next.” The algorithm will do the rest, because nothing attracts digital engagement quite like the possibility that a jewellery brand has accidentally brought down five thousand years of civilisation.
The irony is that everyone is now an expert on cultural appropriateness. Opinions that are sometimes delivered with the confidence of someone who has personally chaired the committee that approved Raksha Bandhan in ancient India.
Everybody is entitled to an opinion, including the brand, the agency and the creative team that made the communication.
Indian culture has survived invasions, migrations, modernisation, Bollywood, television, WhatsApp and Instagram Reels, so it will probably survive a jewellery advertisement featuring a dog without requiring emergency surgery.
A sister can tie a Rakhi to her brother, tie another to the family dog, wear jeans, a saree, a lehenga or something her grandmother cannot identify without consulting Google, and still love her brother exactly as much.
The real responsibility for brands is not to freeze culture in a museum but to understand it, respect its emotional codes and recognise when they are taking a creative liberty. There is a difference between contemporising a tradition and using tradition as a costume, just as there is a difference between saying, “I don’t like this advertisement,” and announcing, “This brand is destroying our culture.” The first is consumer feedback; the second is content, and controversy makes excellent content.
GIVA spent money making an advertisement, while social media has helpfully amplified its reach for free. The brand wants to sell jewellery, critics want to defend culture, influencers want views, celebrities want relevance and the algorithm, as always, wants blood. Everybody gets something from the controversy, which may actually make the campaign more successful than a perfectly safe advertisement that nobody notices.
Perhaps the better question is therefore not whether the advertisement is traditional enough, but whether it is good enough: do we remember GIVA, the jewellery, the idea and the emotional association, and does any of it make us want to buy?
Because advertising is not a religious examination; it is commercial communication, and every creative decision cannot be expected to receive a cultural clearance certificate from the internet. Sometimes a Rakhi is just a Rakhi, a dog is just a dog, a dress is just a dress, and an advertisement is just an advertisement.
Of course, this is India, where an advertisement for jewellery can apparently become a referendum on civilisation, tradition, feminism, fashion, pet parenting and the future of Indian culture before the first box of sweets has been opened. If that is not integrated marketing communication! I really don’t know what is.
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Read all about Rakhi, Raksha Bandhan.
