Israel recently celebrated their 71st Independence Day and to commemorate the historic event, an Israeli company released a limited edition set of five liquor bottles. But what took the country by storm is the incautious use of the picture of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
A Facebook user by the name of Everest Jaladi also posted a picture of the bottles with Mahatma Gandhi’s image on them that are sold by the Israel-based company.
The use of Mahatma Gandhi’s image on beer cans and bottle by an Israel-based company has courted controversy as Prime…
Posted by Everest Jaladi on Tuesday, July 2, 2019
The set featured a cartoon image of Gandhi decked out in shades and a tie-dye shirt. The picture courted huge controversy, taking the issue to the corridors of the Rajya Sabha prompting Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to take immediate action. Soon after, the liquor company issued a statement apologising for the same.
“Malka Beer offers its heartfelt apologies to the people and the Government of India for hurting their sentiments. We highly respect and value Mahatma Gandhi and regret our action of putting his image on our bottles,” Gilad Dror, Brand Manager of the company said in the statement.
According to India Today, Dror also added that the production and supply of the bottles were stopped soon after the Indian Embassy in Israel raised the concern. The company is “making efforts to withdraw the product from the market”, Dror said, adding that the “intention” behind using Mahatma Gandhi’s picture “had in fact been to honour” him.
Reports suggested that Mahatma Gandhi was the only non-Israeli face on the limited edition bottles. It included three former Israeli Prime Ministers — David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Menachem Begin and the father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl. The set featured a cartoon image of Gandhi decked out in shades and a tie-dye shirt.
While their intentions were to ‘honour Mahatma Gandhi’, his picture on the liquor bottles decked out in shades and a tie-dye shirt was of massive concern for the people of India.
What kinda idiot looked at a liquor bottle and thought it was a good idea to put d picture of one of d most revered and respected human on it….
— Bilal Ahmed Zubairy (@bilal_zubairy) July 3, 2019
Disrespect and then apologies.
— Mohamed Ali Khan (@Mdalikhan64p) July 3, 2019
It should not be about hurting "Indian" sentiments. It's common sense. Would any Indian brand put Mandela's or Martin Luther King's photo in a liquor brand?
— Vivek Gopalakrishnan (@vivek_s_g) July 4, 2019
What do you make of the issue?
Cover image: Wikimedia
