GIVA withdraws Kriti Sanon Raksha Bandhan ad after cultural backlash

Jewellery brand GIVA pulled and apologised for a 36-second Raksha Bandhan film featuring Kriti Sanon after criticism of its portrayal of the ritual. The episode underscores the need for cultural testing and rapid-response plans around India’s high-sensitivity festive campaigns.

— Source publishedWed, 26 Aug, 2026, 18:58 IST·First seen Thu, 27 Aug, 2026, 10:42 IST·Source ET Brand Equity

What happened

Indian jewellery brand GIVA withdrew and apologized for a 36-second Raksha Bandhan campaign featuring Kriti Sanon after backlash over her outfit and tying rakhi

Key facts

  • 36-second Raksha Bandhan advertisement
  • Aug 26 ad withdrawal
  • 2020 Tanishq precedent
  • 2022 Manyavar and Zomato precedents
  • 2019 Surf Excel precedent
  • 2021 FabIndia and Ceat precedents

Why this matters

Treat cultural-governance processes, agency oversight and social-listening capability as diligence items in Indian consumer-brand deals, especially for businesses dependent on festival-led demand.

What to watch

  • Sustained negative sentiment or boycott hashtags after GIVA's apology.
  • Influencer, political or religious-group calls for retailer accountability beyond GIVA.
  • Whether GIVA releases a replacement Raksha Bandhan campaign and its reception.
  • Competitor ads explicitly emphasizing tradition, family values or cultural authenticity.
  • Increased use of disclaimers, cultural consultants or toned-down ritual portrayals in upcoming festive advertising.
  • Pause or stress-test all festive assets that depict religious rituals, sibling roles, marriage customs or gender norms before paid-media deployment.
  • Create a rapid-response protocol covering asset takedown authority, apology language, spokesperson approval and customer-service scripts.
  • Run pre-launch qualitative testing across regions, age cohorts and culturally conservative audiences rather than relying only on internal brand teams.
  • Shift near-term festive messaging toward product craftsmanship, gifting utility and customer stories where ritual depiction is not essential.
  • Monitor competitor creative for heritage, tradition and authenticity positioning that could exploit GIVA's withdrawal.

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