Homosexuality was declared as illegal last Wednesday. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community in the country who had pinned their hopes against the Supreme Court’s verdict on Section 377 of the IPC received a major blow last week. In a surprise move, Justice GS Singhvi of the Supreme Court had set aside a landmark judgement by the Delhi high court that decriminalized homosexual sex between two consenting adults.
This regressive step by the Supreme Court called for a massive uproar with many voicing their dissent. Social media platforms like Twitter continued to buzz with the hashtags #Sec377 and #LGBT for a few days. Along with prominent people, we also witnessed quite a few brands voicing their support for the rights of the LGBT community, a step that spells social media success.
Here is a list of brands that chose to express their support for the LGBT community through interesting visuals on their Facebook page:
1. Amul
With over a 1.1 million strong fan base on Facebook, this Amul topical did a splendid take on the Section 377 verdict. Here the Amul girl is paying her last respects to ‘Freedom of choice’!
2. Fastrack
One of India’s largest youth fashion brand, Fastrack has over 8 million fans on its Facebook page. On the day of the verdict, the brand posted this to imply the ‘coming out of the closet’ phenomenon.
This was followed up with another post on the next day calling the verdict as Supreme Injustice, with a clever integration of its tagline ‘Move on’.
3. Myntra
One of India’s largest online shopping destination for fashion and lifestyle products, Myntra has over 1.6 million fans on Facebook. A few days late, but Myntra did come up with a smart visual that incorporated the letter ‘M’ from its logo.
4. Tanishq
One of India’s largest retail jewellery brand with more than 573K fans, Tanishq posted this visual that did all the talking.
5. MTV India
Youth brand MTV India, with over 5.6 million fans on Facebook stayed true to its philosophy of ‘Stay Raw’ with this update that shares a link to its blog.
This was soon followed by this update that also became the youth brand’s cover photo. The visual helps further the recent campaign #RockTheVote, MTV’s endeavour to encourage youngsters to vote in order to bring a change in the system.
6. Chumbak
7. Channel [V]
8. Hidesign
9. Kiehl’s India
10. Allen Solly
11. Lalit Hotels
Lalit Hotels, one of the leading hotel chains in the country with more than 136K fans, made its point very clear with this visual.
It is good to see brands from varied industries taking a stand on social media for a decision as regressive as this. Which are your favourites here? Do share if you have come across other interesting ones.
