"Stupidity At Its Best": HDFC Bank Faces Backlash Over "Vigil Aunty" Ad

Advertising plays a crucial role in the financial industry, particularly for banks, to create awareness, educate customers about services, and ultimately attract business. However, finding the right balance between effective marketing and avoiding controversy is a delicate challenge. Banks often face scrutiny for their advertising campaigns, which sometimes touch upon sensitive topics or use narratives that are perceived as offensive or inappropriate.

One such instance involves HDFC Bank who is facing criticism for its new “Vigil Aunty” ad. In the recent advertisement, a character named “Vigil Aunty” was seen wearing a bindi resembling a stop sign. The advertisement was part of the 2022 HDFC campaign, which aimed to promote secure banking practices nationwide. HDFC Bank collaborated with actress Anuradha Menon to play “Vigil Aunty” for this cyber fraud awareness initiative.

The commercial read, “Join the Vigil Army, Let's fight back. Financial frauds are the new enemy and they are bigger and trickier than ever. Don't Get Scammed is an initiative to arm you with all the information you need to stay ahead of the latest rampant frauds.”

However, the ad faced criticism online, with some people labelling it as anti-Hindu. An upset user wrote on X, “HDFC Bank What is this? How can you mock Hindu women like this? Do Hindu women wear bindi like this? What the need of a women in vigil army.” 

Another agreed, saying, “@HDFC_Bank @HDFCBank_Cares Whoever is your creative head, he/she lacks basic manners of respecting cultural sensitivities of a majority of your customers. $tupidity at it's best.”

Media outlet, Kreately, has requested HDFC Bank to remove the ad due to the insensitivity. They wrote on X, “ @HDFC_Bank and @HDFCBank_Cares Is this how you represent Hindu culture with a [stop sign] on woman's forehead? How culturally blind are you? You are the 4th largest bank in the world & you carry a large responsibility of representing India correctly Please withdraw this infomercial.” 

HDFC hasn't responded on the issue yet.