AU Bank withdraws ad featuring Aamir Khan & Kiara Advani - All you need to know

Here’s a timeline of what happened with AU Bank’s ad featuring Aamir Khan and Kiara Advani.

Small finance bank AU Bank has landed in a soup for its recent campaign featuring Aamir Khan and Kiara Advani. The brand found itself in troubled waters for 'hurting religious sentiments'. 

While the campaign received mixed reactions on Twitter, after film director Vivek Agnihotri’s comment, many internet users started calling for a boycott of the brand. 

Soon, #BoycottAUSmallFinanceBank surfaced on Twitter. 

AU Bank's campaign titled ‘Badlaav humse hai,’ intended to talk about adopting new banking models with changing times. Featuring Aamir Khan and Kiara Advani as newlyweds, AU Bank gave an analogy of bringing change into traditional rituals of marriages and compares it with modern-day banking. 

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The couple discusses why the bride didn’t cry during the ritual Bidaai, wherein the bride is usually expected to cry as she bids adieu to her family. She asks the groom, “Why didn’t you cry?” The film later reveals that the groom has actually decided to move into the bride's house, challenging conventional ideas.

However, this campaign did not sit well with Twitter users. It flared up a controversy on social media and the trolls slammed the ad for mocking Hindu traditions.

After the recent controversy, AU Bank has withdrawn its ad from Twitter. Brand and communication experts, however, are divided on this move. Some said it was smarter to retract, while others were of the opinion that brands should stick to their communication. 

In the last few years, we have seen numerous instances of brands having to pull off ads after having offended people for various reasons. As per Indian advertising watchdog Advertising Standard Council of India’s ‘What India Takes Offence To’ report, ads portraying mixed religious narratives, depictions of new interpretations of traditions, or the use of religious and cultural motifs in a humorous manner have become a trigger point for consumers.