Times Group’s #WomenOnTop Ad Takes A Nasty Dig At Priyanka Chopra, And People Are Outraged

Priyanka Chopra, on her world-conquering spree, is media’s darling right now. They love to doggedly follow her every move and critique it. Be it her anti-national Quantico fiasco, or her rumoured serious relationship with Nick Jonas. And that’s all fine, right? People are loving it.

https://instagram.com/p/BkVfLMvgGpw/?utm_source=ig_embed

What is not fine, though, is this:

What you see above is a print ad for the Times Group’s initiative to boost English news viewership amongst women. Comes with a hashtag too—#WomenOnTop—and shows the channel’s top women reporters on the poster. What it actually is though, is a despicable promotional tactic that is driving people on social media crazy with rage.

Journalist Meghnad Bose took to Facebook and Twitter to point out how Times Network’s attempt to make a witty ad is, in fact, taking an unsavoury dig at Priyanka Chopra’s personal relationships with men over the years.

His Twitter thread very pointedly dissects everything that is wrong with this ad, which uses the actress’ name to promote female empowerment of some kind. And yet, ends up sounding absolutely misogynistic.

Except, if you haven’t noticed already – the Times Group thinks that to prove their point about the high number of WOMEN watching the news, they need to refer to the surnames of the MEN that Priyanka Chopra has worked with or has been rumoured to be dating.

— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) June 25, 2018

The last names chosen for all the Priyankas on the list allude to Priyanka Chopra’s ex-boyfriends over the years, rumoured and confirmed. The ‘Jonas’ inclusion especially confirms what is happening here.

Apart from referring to her relationships with Harman Baweja and Shahid Kapoor, it takes a nasty dig at the actress’ rumoured link-ups with Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar as well.

Kapoor, Baweja, Khan, Kumar and ya, they made it as explicit as possible by adding Jonas bang in the middle of that list!

Unless this is a “reverse sting” on misogyny that we haven’t been told about yet, the Times Group seems to have completely missed the mark with this ad.

— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) June 25, 2018

If you’re left wondering if this is some kind of a reverse-tactic, then so is Bose.

He points out how there’s no doubt that these names were chosen for a specific implication.

Why are the only fictitious names they can come up with “Priyanka Kapoor, Priyanka Baweja, Priyanka Khan and Priyanka Kumar”?

Very evidently, these surnames were specifically chosen to make certain implications.

— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) June 25, 2018

The fact that the ad is trying to highlight Priyanka Chopra’s position as a powerful female role model that women listen to, yet simultaneously use the men in her life to mock her, leaves you at a loss of what exactly is their point here.

But actually, this ad is nothing more than a cheap listicle sourced from gossip columns and popular rumours. It reduces the woman’s achievements to the surnames of the MEN she has worked with and/or allegedly dated.

— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) June 25, 2018

Had the names been different, it would’ve made sense. Hell, it would’ve been pretty impactful ad too. Instead, we get this.

It could have even used the same method – naming different Priyankas, with different surnames from across the country maybe, but without deliberately choosing these specific surnames.

Surely, the media can do better than this. The media must do better than this.

— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) June 25, 2018

Bose also tagged reporters Faye D’Souza and Navika Kumar in his thread and sought their opinion, considering they’re in the ad.

What's your take? @navikakumar @fayedsouza

— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) June 25, 2018

The defamation becomes even more prominent when you look at the other ads that are part of their campaign….

Women are not just leading primetime news. They are watching it too.
A Times Network initiative to create awareness about women viewership for English News. #WomenOnTop pic.twitter.com/ghSv78pLcj

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 21, 2018

The woke folk on social media are clearly not amused at this desperate and misogynistic attempt by the publication to grab eyeballs.

Like, what was the whole point here, exactly? What have the men in a woman’s life got  to do with her success and empowerment?

Who wrote this ad?!

Bravo, guys. BRAVO.

Yes, let’s tell young women that the men they date define them and people can make defamatory jokes about it. Brilliant idea.

Messed up on so many levels!

NO idea who designs your ads, @TimesNow, @MirrorNow, @ETNOWlive — but just FYI types, this is really, really messed up on MANY levels. Especially since you're saying #WomenOnTop. Why target @priyankachopra? pic.twitter.com/uDXpblduZb

— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) June 24, 2018

*slow claps*

Because the only way to promote #WomenOnTop is obviously to bring up #PriyankaChopra's supposed relationships. *slow clap* 👏 pic.twitter.com/HrDfAVmYbJ

— Samrudhi (@_bigeyedgirl) June 24, 2018

Disgraceful!

Absolutely disgraceful print ad by @timesofindia Group. They had to bring in Priyanka Chopra’s rumoured relationships from the past to make a point about #WomenOnTop. So much for women empowerment! pic.twitter.com/cuaipYGBmW

— Paras पारस ਰਿਸ਼ੀ (@parasrishi) June 24, 2018

There are many people urging Priyanka Chopra and her legal team now to not take this lightly, and sue the network.

It’s not just offensive towards Chopra, but towards women in general. And hence, quite intolerable.

https://twitter.com/yasiru_vismini/status/1010958595469398016

Women empowerment concept completely grasped. NOT.

An ad slandering a woman, just to uplift another…. @TimesNow 👎 pic.twitter.com/RMsV51ncFi

— Twinkle Sugarplum 👰🤵 (@AbsumMuggle) June 24, 2018

Sadly, at this point, we hope they come out and call it a belated April Fool’s joke. And even then, not funny.

https://twitter.com/yasiru_vismini/status/1010851720505655296

Maybe Alex Parrish from Quantico could crossover with Harvey Specter from Suits and get that law suit going. I’d totally watch that!

I smell a lawsuit @priyankachopra get that coin and make them pay

— Devesh Baheti (@bahetidevesh13) June 25, 2018

Yeah, guys. Don’t shade. Just compliment. Sometimes, keeping it vanilla is good.

https://twitter.com/PCsPepperoni/status/1011071075424309250

Now see here’s the thing. You’ll wonder, are we really surprised they did this? News channels are known for their deeply misogynistic worldview. So no, we’re not surprised. But then, we are enraged and God knows we ought to be.

Because as Bose pointed out, the media can do better than this. The media must do better than this.