Myntra, the e-commerce website and Flipkart’s online fashion retailer, will change its logo after a Mumbai-based activist filed a complaint in 2020 stating that the logo was offensive to women.
“Myntra said that until their old stock is sold, they will continue with the initial logo. This did not make sense. If their products stay for several years, that logo will be doing the rounds anyway,” Naaz Patel, the activist who filed the complaint, told Silverscreen India.
Patel works for the non-governmental organisation Avesta Foundation in Mumbai, that helps the elderly persons with medical treatment and shelter. Lodging a complaint in December 2020 with the Mumbai Police, she sought the removal of the logo and action against Myntra.
“Three years back, I had watched one of Myntra’s ad on the TV during a family function. Considering the size of the TV screen, and a couple of gents laughing at it, I asked them but they did not tell me what it was. So, I watched it the next time to find out as to what had made them laugh. Finally, I thought that there was something wrong with it [the logo] and I searched it on Google. And I am not the first one who pointed it out. There have been several instances and several debates about it,” she said.
“And since I am a regular Myntra customer, I used to get disturbed whenever I saw the logo and would think, ‘what were they thinking?’ I know that it’s not intentional and that they didn’t ask for it. So, I spoke to a lot of people. One of my acquaintances, a doctor, told me that these are delivery holes and that it was the position in which women having normal delivery usually rested in. I spoke to my lawyer as well and I had already sent an e-mail to Myntra. But there was no reply. Then we sent a notice sometime during September, and yet, there was no reply,” she said.
She then filed a complaint with DCP Rashmi Karandikar of Mumbai Police’s Cyber Crime Department in December, she said.
“Even she was startled and said that she hadn’t noticed it earlier and felt that it needed to be changed. So, the Mumbai Police spoke to the person concerned [from Myntra], they agreed to change the logo and that was it,” she said.
Patel was heavily trolled after the logo was changed. She was attacked for having a vulgar approach towards a logo that meant nothing.
Raise your hands if you are seeing the #MyntraLogo and similarly Popular logos for the first time after this issue! 🙋🤳#Myntra pic.twitter.com/DR8yfJyNNG
— _ursaimantjenith_ (@jenith_sam) January 30, 2021
Im pretty sure "activist" #NaazPatel & the peeps at Avesta Foundation NGO don't eat fruits and vegetables……#MyntraLogo #Myntra @myntra pic.twitter.com/Hziv8iiOie
— Ranjit (@RanjitAtWork) January 31, 2021
Reacting to the trolls, she said, “Whoever I showed it [the logo] to, they found it wrong. So, the ones trolling, it is my appeal to them to look at the before and after of the logo. Myntra recently updated the logo and people are attacking me on the basis of that.”
I am glad my eyes and mind is not as THARKI as the woman of Avesta Foundation #myntralogo #Myntra #ShameOnYou #Feminism pic.twitter.com/JkEGM5abSD
— Mehek Aggarwal (@MehekAggarwal1) January 31, 2021
“I am being suppressed so that nobody else dares to speak up against a big brand, I believe so. Usually, social media reactions to a particular topic are mixed, but in my case, the reactions are heavily inclined towards one side. Even my lawyer told me that it’s an intentional move to shift the negative focus to me, that I am being set as an example,” Patel said.
She added that she has been getting calls from her family questioning her intentions since the memes exploded on Twitter.
DCP Karandikar said, “We found that the logo was offensive in nature for women. Following the complaint, we sent an email to Myntra and their officials came and met us. The officials said they will change the logo in a month’s time.”
Myntra is yet to issue a statement on this issue.
