Bombay Shaving Company faces backlash for 'solidarity' campaign on topper Prachi Nigam

Over the past few days, Bombay Shaving Company has been making headlines but for all the wrong reasons. The company is facing heavy backlash over its solidarity campaign advertisement about UP board topper Prachi Nigam. The backlash comes after the company issued advertisements in a national daily purportedly showing "solidarity" with Nigam, who has become a victim of cyberbullying and trolling for her facial hair.

“They are trolling your HAIR today, they’ll applaud your A.I.R. tomorrow,” the full-page advertisement reads. It further adds, “We hope you never get bullied into using our razor,” it states.

Since the advertisement came out, several social media users—millennials and GenZ alike—have called out the company’s ‘opportunistic’ marketing.

Terming the company’s ad 'desperate,' a social media user wrote on X, "Bombay Shaving Company does a full page ad for Prachi, The UP board topper, who was being trolled for facial hair. Haven’t seen something this desperate. This message goes to their own TG, not to the people who bullied her, hey pls remember to buy our razors while you shed a tear for her. Read the line on the bottom right. Laughable."

“The kid would want this episode to end as soon as possible. But No! A brand wants to splash her name again. Without her consent. To sell their own razors. Very poor taste!” he adds.

Another user, Amit Misra, CEO of Dazeinfo, tweeted, "Superficial gestures, no matter how well-intentioned, can often do more harm than good by perpetuating the very problems they seek to address."

Meanwhile, another user wrote that ‘they could’ve used this money as a gift to fund her higher education, instead of amplifying the trolling she’s been subjected to. Hopefully, their eventual ‘apology’ to Prachi will be a full-page one, too. Unadulterated Cringe.”

As the criticism escalated, Shantanu Deshpande made a final attempt to placate the situation. In a LinkedIn post, he tried to clarify that the advertisement was not opportunistic marketing but was a heartfelt message to a follow Bae. “It was shocking to0 see the amount of hate targeted at a teenage girl who had TOPPED AN EXAM because if her facial hair. Our simple message to this amazing young woman with such a bright future. Love to see my team ooze class. No opportunistic sale. QR code, nothing. Just a healthful message to a fellow Bae.”

But this also didn’t go well with social media users. In a Facebook post, a columnist wrote that the ad was a wake-up call to the advertising and marketing industry.

"The Prachi ad released by the Bombay Shaving Company is a wake-up call to the advertising and marketing industry. The sheer insensitivity of the company which continues to defend the act comes from an extreme sense of power and privilege, where the victim-Prachi-is reduced to a body part, facial hair," wrote Shubho Sengupta.

Meanwhile, Nigam, in an interview, said, "However, God has made me. I am okay with it. For those who feel there is a difference, it doesn’t matter. Even Chanakya was trolled, and he did not care. Similarly, I also don’t care and will focus on my studies."