Giva pulled its Rakshabandhan advertisement on Wednesday after criticism over the outfit worn by Kriti Sanon in the campaign. The brand removed the ad from all media after the clip drew backlash online and turned a festival promotion into a wider argument about what counts as appropriate for Rakshabandhan.
The ad had shown Sanon in a cropped top, skirt and cape while celebrating the festival, and criticism hardened quickly around that styling choice. One commentator called the top a bralette and said there was a clear line between modern styling and basic sensitivity towards Hindu festivals, while others said the look was too revealing for a traditional occasion.
That reaction mattered because the ad was already public and the criticism was loud enough to force a retreat rather than a rebuttal. Kangana Ranaut described the ad as intentionally creepy and questioned why anyone would tie a Rakhi dressed in a bikini or undergarments, while another post on X said pairing a bralette outfit with a sacred occasion felt completely out of touch and unnecessary.
Sanon pushed back on Tuesday night in an Instagram story, saying culture and traditions are in a woman's heart, not in her neckline. She also said the spirit of the festival was about protecting loved ones, which for her included her sister and her pet, a reference that mattered because some viewers had objected to a scene in which she ties a rakhi on her dog.
Giva said it had the highest regard and deep respect for Indian culture, traditions and festivals and said it had wanted to extend the love and celebration to pets. The company added that if the advertisement had inadvertently hurt the sentiments of some segments of society, that was not its intent and that it had withdrawn the advertisement from all media out of respect.
Rakshabandhan, also known as Rakhi, is the Hindu festival in which sisters tie a thread called Rakhi over their brothers' wrists, and that tradition is what gave the campaign its stakes. The unresolved question now is not whether the ad was controversial — it plainly was — but why Giva chose to pull it entirely instead of leaving it online with a response, a move that shows how quickly a festival campaign can collapse once its imagery is read as crossing a cultural line.
