Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s publicist has responded to the open letter, which had accused the actress of appearing in “racist advertisement”. The advertisement by a jewellery brand shows Aishwarya Rai seated on a couch under an umbrella, which is held by a “dark and emaciated” boy, as described in the open letter.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has earned the wrath of activists for an “offensive” advertisement for a jewellery brand that shows a child carrying an umbrella over her head but the actress said the actual image was changed by the brand. In a statement on behalf of the actress, her publicist suggested that Aishwarya was not involved in the final image that appeared in the newspaper.

Open letter to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan:

A group comprising a feminist activist, a former chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights among others had written an open letter to slam the former beauty queen’s recent print ad, which they felt also promoted child labour.

“We wish to convey our dismay at the concept of this advertisement, and that you have, perhaps unthinkingly, associated with such a regressive portrayal of a child to sell a product…,” the letter read.
They asked Aishwarya Rai, who is the National brand ambassador for Kalyan Jewellers, to cease to associate herself with “this offensive image by ensuring that further use of this advertisement is stopped”.

“As an influential member of the Indian film industry and a popular star with a large fan following, we trust that you wish to use your image in a manner that promotes progressive thought and action, and would not knowingly promote regressive images that are racist and go against child rights,” it further read.

Here’s Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s honest reply for racist ad:

The statement, accompanied by the photo below, was addressed to the authors of the open letter and read: “On the onset we would like to thank you on drawing our attention to the observation of the perception of the advertisement. Here is an attachment of the shot taken by somebody during the shoot. The final layout of the ad is entirely the prerogative of the creative team for a brand. However shall forward your article as a viewpoint that can be taken into consideration by the creative team of professional working on the brand visual communication. Thank you once again.”

Here are the reviews the ad is getting from people on twitter:

Black kid holdin umbrella to d great Aishwarya Rai.Kalyan Jewellers has lost this one completly by promoting slavery! pic.twitter.com/7Gu1GSTC53

— Prashanth (@itisprashanth) April 22, 2015

Kalyan Jewellers pulls ad, Aishwarya Rai blames creative agency for ‘racist’ ad http://t.co/2EvHYXrs7T pic.twitter.com/QJ4fNcMvTy

— Firstpost (@firstpost) April 23, 2015

Activists criticize racist ad with #Bollywood‘s Aishwarya Rai #Bachchan by @KalyanJewellers http://t.co/2JBTh5PHTN pic.twitter.com/2MyDYK0W4V

— Sunjeev Bery (@SunjeevBery) April 22, 2015

In the letter published by Scroll, activists point out the parallels between the ad campaigned by Kalyan Jewellers and 17th and 18th century European portraits in which white aristocrats are tended to by black children in servitude.

On the day the advertisement appeared in the papers, Aishwarya and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan were in Chennai to inaugurate a new showroom for Kalyan Jewellers.