HDFC Bank’s Vigil Aunty in the face of storm

The recently rolled out campaign featuring ‘Vigil Aunty’ led to backlash over her bindi resembling a stop sign.

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  • Storyboard18,
 | October 18, 2023 , 6:45 pm
This backlash highlights the challenges brands face in navigating cultural sensitivities and symbols in their campaigns. (Still from the commercial)
This backlash highlights the challenges brands face in navigating cultural sensitivities and symbols in their campaigns. (Still from the commercial)

HDFC Bank is under the troll scanner for its latest ad featuring ‘Vigil Aunty’. In the recent campaign, the character, portrayed by actress Anuradha Menon, donned a bindi that drew comparisons to a stop sign. This advertisement was a key component of HDFC Bank’s 2022 campaign, designed to advocate for secure banking practices nationwide and raise awareness about cyber fraud.

The agenda of the campaign as quoted by media reports is, “Join the Vigil Army, Let’s fight back. Financial frauds are the new enemy and they are bigger and trickier than ever. Don’t Get Scammed is an initiative to arm you with all the information you need to stay ahead of the latest rampant frauds.

Despite the campaign’s intention to create awareness and empower users, a segment of the audience expressed dissatisfaction on social media platforms, particularly on X, citing concerns about the bindi’s resemblance to a stop sign. This backlash highlights the challenges brands face in navigating cultural sensitivities and symbols in their campaigns.

“It is very good that you have removed your wrong and controversial advertisement mocking Hindu religion from your Twitter, but why did you not remove it from Instagram?

“From 2008,I m ur loyal customer. @HDFC_Bank, Never went to any other bank inspite of they giving me new schemes. My current ac, saving ac, HUF ac are wid u. If u didn’t apologize in 2 days, i vil no longer b ur customer,@HDFCBank_Cares, #NoBindiNoBusiness.”

However, HDFC Bank issued clarification on X where the post read, “Vigil Aunty is a fictitious superhero character created to enhance awareness about avoiding falling prey to possible fraudulent activities. There is no intent to hurt anyone’s sentiments nor to be disrespectful in any manner. Vigil Aunty will continue to fight the digital fraudsters. Join the Vigil army, send ‘Hi’ to 7290030000.”

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