Editorial: Pun unintended

NEW DELHI: In a classic case of misplaced messaging, a recent episode transpired at Mood Indigo, the cultural extravaganza of IIT-Bombay that garnered headlines across the country. The incident involved a company, specialising in medical essentials putting out a banner, 'Always Up for a Good Screw' in an attempt to advertise its condoms. To add insult to injury, the company, which happened to be a sponsor of the festival went ballistic on social media with an innuendo laden pun, claiming that "We found the JEE spot: Mood-I, here we come.' No prizes for guessing that the cheeky adverts for prophylactics didn't go down well with many of the attendees, including the professors, who were left red-faced and impressionable young students, never mind the intent of conveying awareness pertaining to safe sex.

The institute's administration, prompted by feedback from the students, flew into damage control mode, and immediately asked the defaulting company to take down their 'problematic' banners. Needless to say, the damage was done with a few boomers lamenting that the incident was emblematic of the moral decay of the youth, and the perils of overt westernisation, globalisation and the influence of cinema and social media. Interestingly, those getting offended by innocuous ads, might need to look closer and examine where exactly decorum ends and moral outrage begins. Last November, it was reported that the administration of IIT Bhilai had filed an FIR against comedian Yash Rathi for using obscene language and dropping expletives during a performance at a cultural event. Rathi's routine, which went awry, prompted the institute to effect a future ban on stand-up acts.

The sanctimonious condemnation of comedians or performers using salty epithets as part of a performance might reek of double standards when you consider how ubiquitous it has become to drop an F or and S-word, even within classrooms within haloed educational institutions, or in some cases, even progressive workplaces. Hardened veterans of the college hostel ecosystem are all too aware of the street cred garnered by the use of an expletive or two. And stakeholders in the education space wishing away such conversational exchanges are only burying their heads in the sand. With regard to the suggestive ads that drew controversy in the latest college festival episode, it might be pertinent to point out that for the longest time, it was almost frowned upon to use the word 'condom' in public discourse.

Millennials might remember how during the advent of Doordarshan, the government had to find oblique and euphemistic ways to describe birth control on national TV, going so far as to employ the song, Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua, from the Raj Kapoor film Shree 420, to showcase the state manufactured prophylactic Deluxe Nirodh. Almost four decades on, Gen Z, weaned on TikTok and YouTube shorts, were going LMAO over Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh's collaboration with international adult entertainer Johnny Sins for an ad promoting a men's sexual health wellness product. If you don’t believe us, try doomscrolling through Instagram and bypassing an advert for a product that pitches itself as a woman’s best friend. And no, we are not referring to diamonds or a golden retriever here.

It’s understandable that it makes sense to keep cultural fests and student gatherings sanitised. But pillorying the youth for having had access to ‘mature’ content seems a little too high-handed. It’s high time we turned the focus from puritanism and trained our attention to concepts like consent, body and sex positivity, and inclusive language.