Ranveer Singh vs PETA: Slamming a banian ad is no way to save sharks

Recently, PETA campaigned outside Channel 4’s London office because their new reality survival show, Bear Gryll’s The Island had contestants sneak up on a sleeping pig and plunge a knife into its neck as part of a task. Yes, it sounds like a scene from Lord Of The Flies – which is what the producers were likely trying to emulate. Killing an animal for entertainment is just ludicrous and cruel, and the organisation was rightly calling the producers out on it. A day after the Bear Grylls’ protest took place in London, PETA India - not to be left out - also found something in the world of Indian entertainment to be outraged at. [caption id=“attachment_2244008” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A screengrab from Rupa Frontline ad. Courtesy: Youtube[/caption] They claimed a celebrity had been shown in an ad promoting the abuse of a defenceless animal. The celeb was Ranveer Singh and as for the offending ad… Well, here’s what it depicts: Singh is shown modelling a Rupa Frontline banian, playing a mock superhero dubbed Frontline Man. He is on an island, rapping and gyrating in front of various seemingly appreciative women and children and performing wondrous acts such as: catching a tennis ball in his bum, doing the limbo, building a massive sand castle in a second, and saving a woman from a shark attack. In other words, PETA’s ‘victim’ is a rubber shark which is beaten up by mean old Ranveer. The entire ad is filled with ludicrous scenarios. This is not a documentary. It is an ad for a vest. The shark is not supposed to be real, and neither are Ranveer’s ball-catching butt muscles. But this little fact seems to have slipped by PETA’s notice. A statement released by Poorva Joshipura, PETA India’s CEO, declared: “PETA will be writing to Rupa Frontline and Ranveer Singh to share our concerns on behalf of sharks and today’s socially aware youth”. No, they aren’t kidding. They believe that this ad is a serious attempt to smear innocent sharks, and create a hate campaign against them. Or do they think that the ad will inspire scores of Indians to wrestle with sharks? If PETA must be concerned for anyone, it’s for the idiot who will be inspired by such an ad and end up as shark fodder or drown. Now, PETA’s complaint would make sense if Singh were shown barbecuing and eating the rubber shark after bashing it up. As Joshipura notes, “Recent studies indicate that up to 73 million sharks are killed each year, mainly for their fins, which are put in soups and eaten mostly in Asia. India is the second largest shark fishing nation in the world”. But that’s not what the commercial is about. Surely there are better ways to raise awareness about sharks than looking like you are humour challenged. Concern for animals must be paired with a grip on reality, if not a sense of humour. This kind of ludicrous alarmist behaviour ensures that PETA will not be taken seriously. I for one am amazed that the Rupa Frontline people took PETA seriously enough to add a disclaimer before the ad stating that “the shark shown in the latest Rupa commercial featuring Ranveer Singh is a rubber toy, no animal was used in the shoot”. This is how dreams are destroyed. Is nothing sacred? Not even Ranveer Singh’s vile antics on television? Does PETA really not have enough on its plate that it needs to expend its efforts on what is, at worst, a horribly made ad? I find that a little tough to believe that there is no better use for its resources in a country where every day you see someone or the other kicking or stoning a defenceless animal, where dairy and poultry farming practices are cruel and unchecked, where work animals, be it horses, elephants or oxen, are routinely abused. It is true that PETA has done a great amount of worthy work in these areas in India: rescuing animals from circuses; campaigning against the government’s sterilisation camps for monkeys and against horse-drawn carriages in Mumbai. But none of it has received much attention. So maybe PETA could borrow from Rupa’s celebrity playbook. PETA internationally has A-list stars like Joaquin Phoenix display what a fish feels like when we take it out of water, or Pamela Anderson show that animals have the same body parts as us. In India, they have to make do with Gulshan Grover telling everyone to choose pleather over leather. I cannot imagine anyone being inspired by these campaigns. It also doesn’t speak very highly of our celebrities that while they can endorse Snapdeal and Lavie bags, they can’t be bothered to endorse PETA’s campaigns. PETA India’s solution, as the Rupa-Ranveer campaign suggests, is to hijack someone else’s A-list ambassador to publicise its cause. Nice idea, except when the stunt makes it look silly and plainly opportunistic. PETA’s slogan on their international landing page is “animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way”. But such extreme positions are what makes PETA what it is and maybe why it is as successful as it is in combating cruelty to animals – because it is so black and white in its stand. PETA has earlier also been involved in brilliant work internationally – rescuing and rehabilitating abused dogs and bears and other animals, they even started a much needed campaign against cruelty to orcas in Sea World. Yes, PETA does a lot of good. But it did itself and the sharks no favours this time around.