GIVA Withdraws Kriti Sanon Raksha Bandhan Campaign Following Advertising Backlash

Indian jewellery brand GIVA has withdrawn its Raksha Bandhan advertisement featuring actor Kriti Sanon from all media following criticism over the campaign’s styling and portrayal of the festival, turning a festive-season marketing initiative into a wider debate about cultural sensitivity, creative expression and brand risk.

The advertisement showed Sanon celebrating Raksha Bandhan while wearing an Indo-Western ensemble featuring a bralette-style blouse, cape and draped skirt. The campaign also extended the festival’s theme of love and protection to pets.

A section of social-media users objected to Sanon’s outfit and the campaign’s interpretation of the festival. The controversy intensified after actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut publicly criticised the styling.

Sanon subsequently defended both her clothing choice and the broader interpretation of Raksha Bandhan, arguing that the meaning of a festival should not be determined by what a woman wears.

GIVA ultimately withdrew the advertisement, saying it had not intended to hurt sentiments and that it had acted out of respect for those who had objected.

The episode highlights a recurring challenge for consumer brands operating in India: how to create distinctive, contemporary festive advertising while navigating sharply differing interpretations of culture and tradition.

GIVA Withdraws Raksha Bandhan Advertisement

GIVA confirmed the withdrawal of the campaign on August 26, 2026, after the advertisement became the subject of extensive online discussion.

The jewellery company said it had deep respect for Indian culture, traditions and festivals.

GIVA explained that its intention had been to celebrate the occasion with the entire family while extending the idea of affection and protection to pets.

However, the company acknowledged that the advertisement had upset some viewers.

It consequently removed the campaign from all media.

The decision demonstrated how quickly brands can respond when a digital campaign begins generating controversy beyond its intended marketing message.

What Was Shown in the GIVA Campaign?

The campaign featured Kriti Sanon in an ivory Indo-Western outfit.

Her styling included a bralette-style blouse paired with a cape and draped skirt.

The advertisement was created around Raksha Bandhan gifting, an important seasonal opportunity for jewellery companies.

It also broadened the conventional representation of the festival by including pets within the idea of family.

Both elements became subjects of online debate.

Some viewers argued that the styling was unsuitable for an advertisement associated with a traditional festival.

Others objected to the portrayal of a rakhi being tied to a pet dog.

The criticism turned what had been designed as a jewellery and gifting campaign into a much broader cultural conversation.

Kangana Ranaut’s Comments Amplified the Debate

The controversy received significantly greater attention after Kangana Ranaut commented on the campaign.

Ranaut questioned why an outfit of that style had been selected for a Raksha Bandhan advertisement when women have access to a wide range of traditional and contemporary clothing.

Her intervention expanded the visibility of the dispute beyond the advertisement’s original audience.

Celebrity commentary can rapidly change the scale of an advertising controversy.

A campaign that might otherwise generate criticism within a limited online community can quickly become part of national entertainment and cultural discussion.

That dynamic became evident in GIVA’s case.

Kriti Sanon Defended Her Clothing Choice

Sanon responded publicly to criticism surrounding the advertisement.

The actor argued that the essence of festivals lies in their emotions and meaning rather than in clothing.

She also challenged the idea that a woman’s respect for culture should be evaluated through her choice of attire.

Sanon further explained her personal interpretation of Raksha Bandhan.

She said she and her sister tie rakhis to each other because they view the festival as a promise of mutual protection rather than something restricted exclusively to a brother-sister relationship.

She similarly defended extending that sentiment toward pets, describing them as part of the family.

Her response shifted the debate toward larger questions involving personal choice, evolving traditions and the representation of women in advertising.

GIVA Chose Withdrawal Over Continuing the Campaign

GIVA eventually opted to remove the advertisement rather than continue running it amid the controversy.

The company emphasised that causing offence had not been its intention.

For brands, withdrawal can be one of several possible responses when an advertising campaign encounters significant criticism.

Others include:

  • modifying the creative material

  • issuing a clarification

  • defending the campaign

  • restricting distribution

  • apologising

  • allowing the campaign to continue unchanged

Each response carries potential commercial and reputational consequences.

GIVA chose the most definitive option by withdrawing the advertisement from all media.

Festive Advertising Carries Higher Cultural Sensitivity

The controversy demonstrates why festival-linked advertising can be particularly challenging in India.

Festivals offer enormous commercial opportunities.

Consumers purchase:

jewellery,

clothing,

electronics,

automobiles,

food,

gifts,

travel,

and financial products

around major celebrations.

Brands consequently compete intensely for attention during festive periods.

However, festivals are not merely commercial occasions.

They carry religious, cultural, familial and regional significance.

Creative decisions that would generate little attention in an ordinary advertisement can therefore be interpreted very differently when associated with a culturally important occasion.

Jewellery Brands Depend Heavily on Festive Marketing

The issue is especially relevant for jewellery companies.

Festivals and family celebrations are central to jewellery demand in India.

Raksha Bandhan provides brands with a natural gifting opportunity.

Other occasions such as:

Diwali,

Dhanteras,

Akshaya Tritiya,

weddings,

anniversaries,

and regional festivals

also create major demand periods.

Jewellery advertising therefore frequently combines products with themes involving family, relationships, heritage and tradition.

That makes cultural storytelling commercially valuable but also potentially sensitive.

Modern Brands Want Contemporary Interpretations

Consumer brands also face pressure to keep traditional advertising relevant to younger audiences.

Simply reproducing conventional festive imagery every year can make campaigns difficult to differentiate.

Brands therefore experiment with:

modern fashion,

changing family structures,

new interpretations of relationships,

pets as family members,

gender equality,

and contemporary lifestyles.

Such approaches can make campaigns distinctive.

They can also produce disagreement when audiences have different expectations about how traditions should be represented.

The challenge is particularly significant for digital-first brands targeting younger consumers while simultaneously trying to appeal to broad family audiences.

GIVA Operates as a Modern Jewellery Brand

GIVA has built its identity around accessible jewellery and digitally influenced retail.

Its product portfolio spans silver jewellery, gold products and lab-grown diamonds, while the company has expanded beyond online sales through a growing physical retail presence.

Celebrity partnerships are an important part of this strategy.

Kriti Sanon has significant recognition among younger Indian consumers, making her a valuable ambassador for a contemporary jewellery brand.

The Raksha Bandhan campaign was therefore consistent with GIVA’s broader effort to combine celebrity visibility with modern styling.

The backlash illustrates the difficulty of maintaining that contemporary positioning when advertising is tied to traditional occasions.

Social Media Has Changed Advertising Risk

Advertising controversies are not new.

What has changed is their speed.

Historically, consumer criticism might reach a company through letters, complaints or media reports.

Today, reactions can spread across social platforms within hours.

Screenshots and clips can continue circulating even after an advertisement has been removed.

Public figures can amplify a debate to millions of followers.

Political commentary can further expand attention.

News organisations can then transform an online dispute into a broader national story.

This means companies must evaluate campaigns not only for their intended audience but also for how individual elements could be interpreted once separated from their original context.

Brands Cannot Control the Conversation After Publication

Digital distribution also reduces a brand’s control over its own campaign.

Once advertising material is published, users can:

clip it,

repost it,

add commentary,

compare it with other campaigns,

and distribute it to audiences the advertiser never intended to target.

The meaning of a campaign can consequently change as it moves across platforms.

For marketing teams, this creates a difficult reality.

Creative work must increasingly be evaluated not only as a complete advertisement but also as individual images, scenes and lines that could circulate independently.

Withdrawal Does Not Immediately End a Controversy

Removing an advertisement can stop further official distribution.

It cannot remove the campaign from the internet.

Copies may remain available through:

social-media posts,

news coverage,

screenshots,

video clips,

and online discussions.

This means campaign withdrawal has become primarily a statement of brand intent rather than a guarantee that the material will disappear.

GIVA’s decision therefore ended its official use of the advertisement while the debate surrounding it continued across media platforms.

The Episode Highlights Brand-Safety Challenges

The GIVA controversy demonstrates the increasingly complex definition of brand safety.

Traditionally, brand safety focused heavily on ensuring advertisements did not appear beside inappropriate content.

Today, companies also need to consider whether their own creative campaigns could become the centre of reputational disputes.

Potential risks can emerge from:

casting,

costumes,

dialogue,

cultural references,

religious symbolism,

social themes,

and celebrity associations.

This does not mean brands must eliminate experimentation.

It means the commercial consequences of creative decisions need to be considered earlier in campaign development.

Cultural Sensitivity and Creative Freedom Can Conflict

There is no simple formula for determining where creative freedom ends and cultural sensitivity begins.

Audiences are not uniform.

A campaign that one group views as progressive may be considered inappropriate by another.

Another group may see withdrawing the same advertisement as unnecessary.

Brands operating nationally therefore face competing expectations.

Trying to satisfy every possible interpretation can produce generic advertising.

Ignoring cultural context can create reputational risk.

The strategic challenge is finding an appropriate balance between those extremes.

Celebrity Endorsements Magnify Both Reach and Risk

Celebrity ambassadors provide brands with enormous visibility.

They can increase:

campaign recognition,

social engagement,

media coverage,

consumer recall,

and product discovery.

But celebrity campaigns can also attract greater scrutiny.

Public figures have their own audiences, critics and cultural associations.

When controversy emerges, discussion can shift from the product to the celebrity.

That happened in the GIVA campaign, where debate increasingly centred on Sanon’s outfit and subsequent response rather than jewellery.

For brands paying for celebrity attention, that is an important risk to manage.

The Controversy Offers a Broader Marketing Lesson

GIVA’s experience provides a useful case study for India’s consumer-brand industry.

Festive campaigns must increasingly operate across several dimensions simultaneously.

They need to:

capture attention,

remain culturally relevant,

appeal to younger consumers,

communicate product value,

work across social platforms,

and withstand intense public scrutiny.

Achieving all of these objectives at once is difficult.

As brands become more experimental, campaign review processes are likely to become more sophisticated.

Creative teams may increasingly work alongside legal, communications and reputation-management specialists before high-profile campaigns are released.

Conclusion

GIVA’s decision to withdraw its Raksha Bandhan campaign featuring Kriti Sanon demonstrates how quickly festive advertising can move from a marketing initiative into a wider debate about culture, clothing and changing interpretations of tradition.

The jewellery brand removed the advertisement from all media after criticism focused on Sanon’s Indo-Western outfit and the campaign’s inclusion of pets within the Raksha Bandhan celebration.

Sanon defended both her clothing choice and the broader message, arguing that cultural respect should not be measured through what a woman wears and that the festival’s themes of protection and affection can extend beyond conventional relationships.

For GIVA, the withdrawal brings the official campaign to an end.

For the wider advertising industry, however, the episode illustrates an increasingly important challenge: creating distinctive and contemporary festive campaigns while recognising that cultural storytelling can generate very different reactions across India’s diverse consumer audience.