Twitter has sent a notice to twitter user Abhijit Iyer-Mitra for posting an advertisement that parodied Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi claiming that video violated India’s Information Technology Act.
On Thursday, defence analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, known for his critical views on both the BJP and the Congress party, put out a tweet saying he has received a notice from Twitter for posting an advertisement that parodied Rahul Gandhi. In the notice, Twitter said that they had received a complaint from a Mumbai Police department’s Social media Lab alleging that the video shared by Mitra had violated the IT act.
Lol apparently @MumbaiPolice believes me posting this Ad that parodies India’s chief diaper user “violates India’s IT laws”. These would be the same guys screaming censorship all day long https://t.co/v4OvxddFi7 pic.twitter.com/T7xrgTbraT
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) August 5, 2021
Though Twitter was not specific about the exact violations Abhijit Iyer-Mitra’s tweet had allegedly committed, but the social media company sent him a notice informing him that they had received a notice for the same.
On April 26, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra had posted the video of an advertisement put out by Storia Foods & Beverages that parodied Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi. Sharing the video, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra had noted that it was an ultimate disgrace for a politician for his public stupidity to become an object of parody to sell products.
The ultimate disgrace for a politician – to have one’s public stupidity parodied and used to market a product. pic.twitter.com/YZbs5FMQ7r
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) April 26, 2021
The advertisement shared by Abhijit Iyer-Mitra was one of the widely shared videos not just on Twitter but also on several social media platforms. Mumbai based beverage company Storia Foods & Beverages Pvt. Ltd had launched its first-ever 360-degree marketing campaign, “Wish it never gets over” for their range of Storia Shakes.
The company had released three ads films. Each of the three 45-second ad films focuses on promoting one specific Storia Shake flavour. The first ad released as a part of the campaign is set in a cricket league press conference setting. The second ad promotes Storia mango shake, wherein the actor is disappointed because there’s no more shake left for him after his workout session.
The most recent of the ads promote Storia chocolate shake, which is set against a political backdrop. While all three ads are designed as humorous parodies, the last one had characters resembling Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
In the ad, the ‘son’ consoles his mother, who is upset that her milkshake got over and says he will make a machine in which you give grass as input, and you get milk as output. “Aage se ghaas, peechhe se doodh” he says mimicking Rahul Gandhi. To this, the frustrated mother says that this ‘machine’ is a ‘gaay’ (cow), to which the son asks if the ‘gaay’ is empowered.
Well, the advertisement campaign by Storia apparently irked the Congress party as expectedly. The Congress party and its ecosystem, including the “liberal-secular” media, pounced upon the beverages company for mimicking Rahul Gandhi.
A few days later, it took a serious turn when Congress workers had gone on a rampage, vandalising the Storia’s Mumbai office to protest against their creative advertisement.
#WATCH Congress workers held a protest today at the #Mumbai office of Storia Foods over the company’s recent advertisement allegedly mocking Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi
— ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2021
(Video source: Mobile footage) pic.twitter.com/LOi48quAD1
Several Congress supporters, despite strict COVID-19 restrictions being in place in Maharashtra, had barged into the office of the Mumbai based beverage brand and vandalised the entire office premises. The glass windows of the office were shattered, while the office chairs and table were tossed around.
The Congress supporters had raised Congress flags and chanted slogans in support of Congress leaders Rahul and Sonia Gandhi inside the office premises. This was not all, the Congress workers were also seen clicking themselves inside the office, gloating over the vandalism.
