Nestle withdraws Hindu KitKat range in India over accusations of disrespect
Nestle has withdrawn a special range of KitKats in India which featured images of sacred Hindu deities on the wrapper, after accusations of hurting religious sentiments.
The limited range of the well-known chocolate bar had been launched as part of the global “KitKat travel breaks” range, where photos of artwork by local artisans were printed on the wrappers.
But the Indian version of the range, which was designed to celebrate the crafts of the Indian state of Odisha, provoked an online backlash as they featured images of Hindu deities Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Mata Subhadra.
Many expressed outrage that the wrappers might end up in “dustbins, drains, gutters” or trodden underfoot, which would be disrespectful of the gods and the Hindu faith.
As Hindu nationalism has been on the rise in India, there has been a heightened sensitivity towards the depiction of the Hindu faith in the public sphere and recent accusations of hurting religious sentiments have been levelled at books, films, TV shows and advertisements.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>It is a honor to see our Odisha culture & lord jagannath, balabhadra & subhadra on ##KitKat but plz think once, whn some1 will eat Read more on theguardian.com
