Ganesh Utsav celebrations are currently underway across Mumbai, with devotees visiting pandals to offer prayers and take part in the festivities. But the growing presence of brand advertisements at some pandals has raised questions about how much space should be given to commercial promotions.
A founder has criticised what she sees as excessive advertising during the festival, saying banners and brand promotions should not take attention away from Lord Ganesh or make things harder for devotees. Her comments come as corporate sponsorships have become a visible part of some major Mumbai pandals.
Shruti H Chaturvedii shared her views in a LinkedIn post, where she questioned both brands and organisers over the way advertisements are being placed during
the celebrations.
She Says Ads Are Taking Over The Festival
“This year, many of Mumbai’s popular Ganesh Utsav mandals felt anything but spiritual or religious. Advertisements at every corner. Brand creatives covering gates, pillars and facades. Ordinary devotees struggling through crowds, often treated with very little dignity if not VIP,” Shruti H Chaturvedii wrote on LinkedIn.
She said mandals should be questioned for turning almost every available space into an advertising spot. But she also held brands, advertisers and politicians responsible for adding to the problem.
“Mandals deserve criticism for turning every available surface into something that can be sold. But brands and advertisers (including politicians) are equally responsible for this ugliness.” Chaturvedii said she advises clients against placing ads in ways that take over festival spaces.
According to her, simply putting a brand in front of more people does not mean those people will remember it positively.
She Says Crowded Pandals Are The Wrong Place For Ads
“No one struggling to keep their child on their shoulder so the child can breathe is going to look at your brand creative and say ‘wow what a great banner let me buy from them’.”
She said people who are already dealing with crowds, discomfort and poor arrangements may connect those negative feelings with the brands they see around them.
“When a devotee’s entire experience is frustrating, uncomfortable and undignified, brand banners plastered across that experience aren’t necessarily creating positive brand recall. They risk becoming part of what people resent.”
Her comments also come at a time when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked festival organisers not to place advertisements on roads and pavements in ways that block or inconvenience pedestrians.
She Wants The Focus To Remain On Lord Ganesh
Chaturvedii said the main focus of a religious festival should be the deity, not brands trying to get maximum visibility.
“The attention at a religious festival should be on the deity. In this case, Lord Ganesh… But when your brand posters scream for attention at every corner because visibility is your KRA, you’re polluting the very essence of the festival. And the sad part is – this could have done this in a much more meaningful, useful and elegant way!”
She argued that companies can still support festivals without covering pandals with promotional material. Instead, she suggested that brands work with mandals on things that can make the experience easier for devotees.
“Let deity have the attention He should have. Let devotees get a better experience than being treated like cattles. Work with Mandals to invest in solutions that make devotee experience a little better. Little easier. Your brand cannot be bigger than the devotees. And definitely not bigger than the deity devotees gather to see.”
Social Media Users Share Different Views
The post received support from some users, while others pointed out that brand partnerships can also be useful when they are planned around the needs of devotees.
A person wrote, “That’s Concerning Actually… The situation was almost similar in Raipur and Bhilai (Chhattisgarh).”
Another posted, “Such an insightful observation from such a young mind. Folks like you give hope to our generation. Very well articulated, a real issue of commercialisation of spiritualism through religion.”
A third user offered a different view: “I understand your point, but it is not always bad to be a brand partner on such festivals. Some collaborations are extremely thoughtful and equally useful for the devotees. I know Pidilite does a lot of them, you can check out their creative campaigns around Mahakumbh (Fevicol jodi), Pandharpur Yatra (Dr Fixit), etc. Welspun has also done a few. But it starts from the DNA of the brand, which flows into the idea and the prep that these guys do.”
Disclaimer: This article is based on user-generated content. The claims made in the original post have not been independently verified by News18.
