Caresmith takes a swipe at Bombay Shaving Company
The personal care appliance company has released a parody ad that mimics the original print advertisement by the Bombay Shaving Company that showed solidarity towards Prachi Nigam
Caresmith, a personal care and grooming appliance company, has weighed in on the Bombay Shaving Company fiasco with a “print ad” of their own. Co-founder Rushabh Shah shared a sarcastic post, taking a dig at Shantanu Deshpande, the CEO of the Bombay Shaving Company, who faced major backlash last week over a viral print ad.
The ad reads, “Dear Shantanu, You may or may not have hair. But our Head Massager Doesn’t C.A.R.E.”
The ad is a parody of the BSC’s original “Dear Prachi” ad where the company said that they wished that she is never bullied into buying their products (razors).
Caresmith founder Shah also added sarcastically: “We don’t have the money to put out this ad in the newspaper. Please sponsor this ad by buying our head massagers.”
Copying Deshpande's original post, Shah also expressed mock concern for the "amount of hate targetted at Shantanu."
To bring readers up to speed, BSC’s sister brand Bombae released a print ad, ostensibly to show solidarity with Prachi Nigam, a UP state Class 10 topper who was at the receiving end of intense trolling due to her facial hair.
Since Bombae sells grooming products, netizens were upset at what they considered an opportunistic and hypocritical move by the company. To make matters worse, Deshpande shared the ad on LinkedIn, expressing his appreciation for his marketing team. However, no such accolades came from the industry, who panned the ad as a misuse of moment marketing, exploiting the pain of a teenager.
The print ad also invited the ire of ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India), whose CEO Manisha Kapoor bore down heavily on the ethics of the ad. She told news outlets that the ad has "picked up for examination" after it was brought to the council's attention through social media. "The ASCI jury will examine the ad and should the company choose to contest it," said Kapoor.
ASCI has clear rule that prohibit ads that may result in physical, mental or moral harm, or anything that exploits their vulerability as children.
