A new advertisement for Gap featuring a turban wearing Sikh American being caressed by a fashion model is drawing controversy in the Sikh American community, reports Sikh 24.
Gursant Singh has organized a protest of the ad on Facebook and is also planning a demonstration outside a Gap store in Davis, California.
But others in the Sikh community have pushed back against those efforts.
Singh says “Sikhs are being disrespected & insulted in this new Gap ad which depicts a Sikh with a woman’s hand lustfully placed on his turban and chest.”
But as Kanwar Singh wrote in a blog for Sikh 24:
Gap has raised the profile of our community in ways we could not have accomplished with our limited resources. To me, it’s a matter of pride that a turban is being positioned as a fashion statement. I hope that each individual, who views this marketing campaign, appreciates that turbans are an integral part of the American way of life. We are not foreigners from some distant shore. We are Americans who voluntarily choose to practice Sikhi as a way of life.
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He estimates the ad is worth $100 million in brand value to the Sikh community.
But Gursant Singh points out that portraying a sacred symbol in a lustful way is not acceptable.
Re: Gap ad worth a million in gold to Sikhs, or is it?: The Sikh24.com article of failed to mention The Gap is using the Sikh religion to “Brownwash” the ugly fact The Gap does business with Bangladeshi exporters, who subject their garment workers to harsh working conditions. South Asia of course is where the majority of people with brown skin live and a Sikh with a turban makes a convenient pawn for the Gap to use in its greedy game of making more profits. Sikhs refuse to allow The Gap to exploit the Sikh religion in order to sell clothes!
Re: Gap ad worth a million in gold to Sikhs, or is it?: Join the protest against the Gap’s disrespect of Sikhs https://www.facebook.com/events/200589616794899/_… Factory in Bangladesh accused of shocking abuse of pregnant workers in new labour report Pregnant workers illegally fired, denied maternity leave pay at Bangladesh factory that sews for The Gap says report _ <a href="http:// <a href="http:// _http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/03/gap_makes_work_a_living_hell_for_pregnant_women_in_bangladesh_factory.html___”” target=”_blank”> <a href="http://_http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/03/gap_makes_work_a_living_hell_for_pregnant_women_in_bangladesh_factory.html___"” target=”_blank”>_http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/03/gap_makes_work_a_living_hell_for_pregnant_women_in_bangladesh_factory.html___” target=”_blank”> <a href="http:// <a href="http://_http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/03/gap_makes_work_a_living_hell_for_pregnant_women_in_bangladesh_factory.html___“” target=”_blank”>_http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/03/gap_makes_work_a_living_hell_for_pregnant_women_in_bangladesh_factory.html___“ target=”_blank”> <a href="http://_http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/03/gap_makes_work_a_living_hell_for_pregnant_women_in_bangladesh_factory.html___” target=”_blank”>_http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/03/gap_makes_work_a_living_hell_for_pregnant_women_in_bangladesh_factory.html___ Sikhs protest The Gap’s exploitation of the Sikh religion & Sikh boys for commercial profit!
New GAP Ad With Sexy Sikh Guy Is Clever Marketing PHOTOS http://www.carbonated.tv/lifestyle/new-gap-ad-wit…