Readers' Forum
Outrageous advertisement
As a long-standing reader, subscriber and supporter of Parsiana, I was appalled and upset to see the advertisement (of the restaurant Jumjoji) that you carried in your December 7, 2012 issue where an expletive is used — that too for a world-renowned Parsi Zoroastrian entertainer who is no more.
What purpose does such an advertisement serve?
What purpose does such an advertisement serve?
RUSTOM K. J. KHAMBATA
I never expected to dash off an e-mail like this to express my outrage at the form of the full-page advertisement for the restaurant Jumjoji in the December 7, 2012 issue of Parsiana. I am relieved that it did not appear in your very first online issue.
Farrokh Bulsara (a.k.a. Freddy Mercury) was never known to me personally, neither was his musical talent. When I was approached by television channels to participate in documentaries about that great man, I got to know him through listening constructively to his music. What I came to realize was the man, a Parsi by birth, and a Zoroastrian by nurture, who had given vast pleasure to hundreds of millions of his admirers worldwide, was being exalted by the many and execrated by the few — of his own kind (priestly and lay!).
What is objectionable is the bravado with which the agency responsible for the advertisement directed it at one who had deceased some years before. Whilst no purist myself, why was this offensive depiction of the great man couched in cowardly fig-leafing the abusive word? The late singer’s mother and sister are still very much with us. One can imagine the distress this will cause them.
This gratuitous obscenity hurled defiantly at the memory of the dead must surely be deplored by all right-thinking persons.
Farrokh Bulsara (a.k.a. Freddy Mercury) was never known to me personally, neither was his musical talent. When I was approached by television channels to participate in documentaries about that great man, I got to know him through listening constructively to his music. What I came to realize was the man, a Parsi by birth, and a Zoroastrian by nurture, who had given vast pleasure to hundreds of millions of his admirers worldwide, was being exalted by the many and execrated by the few — of his own kind (priestly and lay!).
What is objectionable is the bravado with which the agency responsible for the advertisement directed it at one who had deceased some years before. Whilst no purist myself, why was this offensive depiction of the great man couched in cowardly fig-leafing the abusive word? The late singer’s mother and sister are still very much with us. One can imagine the distress this will cause them.
This gratuitous obscenity hurled defiantly at the memory of the dead must surely be deplored by all right-thinking persons.
Boman Behram Irani, partner Jumjoji, writes:
In response to the discomfort that the published advertisement has caused any member of our community, we are truly apologetic. It was never our intention to hurt the sentiments of any member of the community or fans of this great personality. It is our commitment, that this advertisement will not be printed on these pages ever again.
Zarvan Patel, director of the advertising agency adds:
ideas@work assumes full responsibility for the Jumjoji advertisements, and as head of our national, two-bedroom network agency, I would like to assure you that it was never our intent to hurt the sentiments of any of the readers within our community.
Freddy Mercury has and will always be my favorite rock star (his friends also knew him for his wicked sense of fun).
Humor can often be a subjective tightrope walk, so rather than defend this piece of work myself I would like to quote from "Malavika’s Musings” column (Mid Day of June 28, 2012) in which the advertisement has been reproduced: "We are dying to eat the wonderfully named dishes on the menu (at Jumjoji) like Piroja Irani’s chicken sticks, Freni Aunty’s mutton dhansak, but until then we can’t help but share this ad for the restaurant that a friend posted on Facebook. Depicting the Parsi icon, the late great Freddy Mercury it encapsulates all the wit and self-deprecating humor the community is loved for.”
ideas@work assumes full responsibility for the Jumjoji advertisements, and as head of our national, two-bedroom network agency, I would like to assure you that it was never our intent to hurt the sentiments of any of the readers within our community.
Freddy Mercury has and will always be my favorite rock star (his friends also knew him for his wicked sense of fun).
Humor can often be a subjective tightrope walk, so rather than defend this piece of work myself I would like to quote from "Malavika’s Musings” column (Mid Day of June 28, 2012) in which the advertisement has been reproduced: "We are dying to eat the wonderfully named dishes on the menu (at Jumjoji) like Piroja Irani’s chicken sticks, Freni Aunty’s mutton dhansak, but until then we can’t help but share this ad for the restaurant that a friend posted on Facebook. Depicting the Parsi icon, the late great Freddy Mercury it encapsulates all the wit and self-deprecating humor the community is loved for.”
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