A few days ago, Hrithik Roshan tweeted about the television commercial that angered him. He posted: An Intex ad using a handicap - a boy with a stutter to enhance the fluency of its product. Irresponsible. Insensitive. Want to ban something, ban this. If you are wondering what got Hrithik's goat, here's a brief description of the commercial.
A few days ago, Hrithik Roshan tweeted about the television commercial that angered him. He posted: An Intex ad using a handicap - a boy with a stutter to enhance the fluency of its product. Irresponsible. Insensitive. Want to ban something, ban this. If you are wondering what got Hrithik's goat, here's a brief description of the commercial.
The ad has girls drooling over a guy Bhaskar, who is hot and fast. While the girls talk about how they love him, he doesn't speak a word... till a voiceover says, 'Bhaskarbhai tu kitna atakta hai'. To which he stammeringly replies, 'Main atakta hoon, mera Intex Aqua Speed nahi' showing how good the phone is! Well, playing on somebody's disability is indeed in bad taste.
For those who came in late, Hrithik, who is considered a Greek God, has had to face the problem of stuttering since childhood. The actor to his credit has openly spoken about it. In an interview he is quoted saying, "Unfortunately, it is one of those handicaps that is made fun of. Especially kids, you can't blame them, but they end up being mean because it looks funny! So the childhood of a person suffering from a problem like this, is pure hell. From the time you wake up in the morning to night, you almost dread some days …. to wake up! Because you have to go through an entire day when you have to use your speech and have to go through all those little moments of hell."
Not only that, he has talked about how he went through speech therapy to speak fluently and still does those exercises every day. He is also said to have donated generously to a children's hospital for a speech therapy wing.
While Hrithik's anger against the Intex ad is understandable, he seems to have missed a bike ad featuring none other than hot-shot cricketer Virat Kohli. This one shows a stuttering guy miraculously gaining his speech when he hears the mileage Virat's bike gives!
Not always insensitive
The Nescafe ad that uses the stutter positively is one of the few heart-warming ads. It is about a stammering stand-up comedian who is made fun of initially. It starts with the line, "The biggest strength of a stand-up comedian who stammers? "Sss...ssus..suss...suspense" As the ad progresses, you see the his self-deprecating humour winning you over. What's more by the end of the commercial, Raghu turns out be the popular, albeit stuttering, stand-up comedian! Sweet and nice.
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