New Delhi: Patanjali took over the FMCG market in India with its herbal products. Its products boasted of using natural and herbal ingredients along with using age-old trusted home remedies from India. The company took over the Indian market by storm by projecting itself as ‘swadeshi’ and projecting yoga guru Baba Ramdev as the face of the company.
However, it has found itself in a number of legal issues where its advertisements have pointed fingers at other competitor brands. However, this time Patanjali’s beauty cream products have come under fire and received immense flak on Twitter after it called dark complexion as a skin ailment. A Twitter user shared the objectionable Patanjali ad on the micro-blogging site which made a lot of people on social media fume with indignation on the company, but Patanjali and Baba Ramdev clarified the matter and said that the advertisement used wrong translation.
FMCG companies in India often play on the Indian stereotype of fair-complexion which is termed beautiful and dusky, swarthy or wheatish complexion are termed ugly. A Twitter user by the handle @beastoftraal posted a Patanjali beauty cream ad which talked about the dark skin “ailment” and questioned Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali products about it.
According to the description that the Twitter user shared says that the cream will be extremely beneficial for skin ailments like dry skin, dark complexion, and wrinkles.
No Baba Ramdev… ‘dark complexion’ is NOT a skin ailment. Did Tarun Vijay write your ad? pic.twitter.com/laHsUVjFGL
— Karthik (@beastoftraal) January 8, 2018
However, the Patanjali spokesperson SK Tijarawala replied to the Twitter user and clarified that the ad was a translation error from their Hindi ad, and the original ad did not say anything about dark complexion.
यह मात्र एक अनुवाद की गलती है हमारे हिन्दी के विज्ञापन में कहीं डार्क काम्प्लेक्शन का जिक्र नहीं है it’s just a translation error from the Hindi ad on the same product. The Hindi ad has no mention of the dark complexion @CNNnews18 @beastoftraal @kitAnurag pic.twitter.com/1Wrdj6zKuL
— tijarawala sk (@tijarawala) January 8, 2018
Even Baba Ramdev took to Twitter to clarify the stand about the company and its products.
Baba Ramdev’s Clarification
No Baba Ramdev… ‘dark complexion’ is NOT a skin ailment. Did Tarun Vijay write your ad? pic.twitter.com/laHsUVjFGL
— Karthik (@beastoftraal) January 8, 2018
The Twitter user received tons of replies from other Twitterati but the best part was that Patanjali and Baba Ramdev actually replied to him giving concrete justification that it was a translation error and they have always maintained that dark complexion is not an ailment. This shows the credibility that the company has since it targets other ‘foreign’ MNCs for not being ‘swadeshi’.
