Kriti Sanon’s GIVA Ad Sparks Social Media Debate Over Modern Styling During Raksha Bandhan

Kriti Sanon has once again found herself at the centre of an online conversation, this time over a jewellery advertisement released around Raksha Bandhan.

The actor features in a campaign for jewellery brand GIVA, which presents a festive family setting involving Sanon, a sibling and a pet dog. The campaign also promotes the brand’s pet-focused jewellery collection.

While the advertisement was intended to combine festive sentiment with contemporary lifestyle and fashion, its styling prompted mixed reactions online. A section of social media users questioned Sanon’s modern, Western-style outfit, arguing that the look did not align with their expectations of how a celebrity should be presented during a traditional festival.

The criticism subsequently led to a wider discussion about celebrity fashion, advertising and the tendency to scrutinise women’s clothing on social media.

What Is the Kriti Sanon GIVA Ad Controversy About?

The GIVA campaign revolves around Raksha Bandhan, a festival traditionally associated with the bond between siblings.

The advertisement also brings a pet into the family setting, reflecting the growing visibility of pets as part of contemporary households. The jewellery brand used the campaign to promote its pet collection while placing the product within a festive family narrative.

Kriti Sanon appears in the campaign wearing a contemporary outfit.

That styling became one of the main talking points after the advertisement circulated online.

Rather than focusing exclusively on the jewellery or the campaign’s sibling-and-pet theme, some users directed their attention towards Sanon’s clothing and questioned whether such a look was appropriate for a festival traditionally associated with Indian customs.

The resulting discussion quickly moved beyond the advertisement itself.

Social Media Users Debate Tradition and Modern Fashion

The reaction illustrates a recurring tension in Indian advertising: how should brands present traditional festivals while appealing to audiences who increasingly embrace contemporary fashion and lifestyles?

Festive advertising has historically relied on familiar visual cues such as ethnic clothing, family gatherings, traditional decorations and cultural rituals.

However, modern campaigns frequently reinterpret those conventions.

Brands increasingly combine traditional occasions with contemporary styling, modern interiors, diverse family structures and changing ideas about lifestyle. The intention is often to make festival campaigns relevant to younger consumers.

GIVA’s campaign follows that broader trend by placing a traditional occasion alongside modern fashion and a pet-centric product offering.

For some viewers, the combination worked as a contemporary interpretation of Raksha Bandhan.

For others, the styling became the focus of criticism.

A Social Media Post Calls Out the ‘Double Standards’

The online criticism also prompted pushback from people who felt that Sanon’s clothing was being subjected to unnecessary scrutiny.

Social media user Ashutosh Krishna, posting from the X account @IAmKrishnaaX, criticised what he described as a double standard in the way women in the public eye are discussed online.

He wrote:

“The double standards on social media are exhausting. People love to cheer on glamorous roles on screen, but the moment an actor wears something stylish in an ad, the moral police step in. Let women dress how they want without turning every ad campaign into a national debate.”

His post reflected one side of the broader conversation: the argument that an actor’s clothing in a commercial should not automatically become a discussion about morality or cultural values.

The response also demonstrates how quickly a fashion-related advertisement can become a larger debate about personal choice.

Why Celebrity Advertising Attracts Such Strong Reactions

Celebrity advertisements occupy an unusual space in popular culture.

Actors are hired to represent brands, but audiences often associate their public image with the characters they play, their interviews and their personal style.

As a result, a commercial featuring a well-known actor can attract attention beyond the product being promoted.

The situation becomes even more pronounced when the campaign is connected to a major cultural festival.

Raksha Bandhan carries strong emotional and family associations for many Indians. Consequently, audiences may bring their own expectations about clothing, family representation and cultural symbolism to an advertisement.

A brand may view contemporary styling as an effort to make the campaign feel current, while some viewers may interpret the same choice through a more traditional lens.

Neither reaction necessarily represents the campaign’s original commercial objective.

GIVA’s Pet Collection Adds a Contemporary Element

Another distinctive aspect of the campaign is the inclusion of a pet dog alongside the human family members.

The presence of pets in Indian advertising has become increasingly common as brands respond to changing attitudes towards companion animals.

For many households, pets are treated as members of the family, making their inclusion in a Raksha Bandhan campaign a way of presenting a broader interpretation of family relationships.

The jewellery collection being promoted is also designed around this idea, bringing the pet-care and jewellery categories together in a festive setting.

That gives the campaign a different angle from a conventional Raksha Bandhan advertisement centred solely on brothers and sisters.

Can Traditional Festivals Be Presented With Modern Styling?

The debate surrounding the GIVA campaign raises a larger question about the role of tradition in contemporary advertising.

Festivals evolve as society changes. Clothing choices, family structures, celebrations and even the way people communicate about festivals are not identical to what they were decades ago.

For brands, this creates an opportunity as well as a challenge.

A campaign that is too traditional may appear disconnected from younger consumers. A campaign that deliberately breaks with familiar visual conventions can attract attention, but it may also generate criticism.

The GIVA campaign demonstrates that tension.

Sanon’s contemporary appearance became a talking point precisely because the advertisement was associated with a traditional festival.

The Debate Goes Beyond Kriti Sanon

Although Kriti Sanon is the face appearing in the advertisement, the discussion ultimately raises questions that extend beyond one actor or one brand.

Women in entertainment frequently face scrutiny over their clothing, whether they are appearing at film promotions, award ceremonies, advertisements or public events.

Social media has amplified that scrutiny by allowing individual reactions to spread rapidly and become part of larger conversations.

A celebrity’s outfit can therefore become a trending topic even when clothing is not the primary subject of the content.

In this case, the campaign’s intended message about family, Raksha Bandhan and pets was partly overshadowed by discussion of Sanon’s outfit.

Advertising Is Increasingly Designed for Conversation

There is also another dimension to the controversy.

In the digital advertising era, campaigns are often created with social sharing in mind. Brands want advertisements to generate discussion because conversation can increase visibility beyond the original paid campaign.

However, attention can move in unexpected directions.

A campaign may be designed around a product launch but become known primarily for its styling, celebrity appearance or a controversial element.

Whether the resulting discussion is positive or negative, it can increase the campaign’s visibility.

That does not mean controversy is necessarily the intention behind the advertisement. It simply demonstrates the unpredictable nature of social-media distribution.

Kriti Sanon’s Fashion Choices Remain a Public Talking Point

Kriti Sanon has frequently attracted attention for her fashion choices, both on and off screen.

As a prominent Bollywood actor and fashion personality, her appearances are routinely discussed by entertainment and lifestyle audiences.

The GIVA campaign is another example of how closely celebrity styling can be examined when an actor becomes the face of a major brand.

For Sanon, the advertisement is part of a broader relationship between celebrity, fashion and commercial branding.

For audiences, however, it became an opportunity to debate where contemporary fashion fits within traditional cultural celebrations.

The Larger Question: Personal Choice or Cultural Expectations?

At the centre of the online debate is a familiar question: should a person’s clothing be judged according to the occasion, or should individuals be free to interpret traditional occasions through their own style?

There is no single answer that applies to every audience.

For some people, traditional festivals carry expectations around dress and presentation. For others, cultural celebration does not require a particular style of clothing.

Advertising sits somewhere between these perspectives because it is simultaneously a creative expression and a commercial product.

Brands must appeal to audiences while deciding how they want to represent cultural moments.

The reactions to GIVA’s campaign show that those choices can generate discussion even when the campaign itself is not intended to be controversial.

What the GIVA Ad Says About Changing Indian Advertising

The campaign is also representative of a wider shift in Indian advertising.

Brands are increasingly portraying festivals through contemporary lifestyles rather than relying exclusively on traditional imagery.

Modern clothing, urban settings, changing family dynamics and pets are becoming part of festive campaigns.

This approach reflects the changing ways in which many consumers experience festivals.

At the same time, traditional festivals remain deeply connected to cultural identity, meaning that advertisers operate within a space where innovation and familiarity must coexist.

The response to GIVA’s campaign demonstrates just how closely audiences continue to watch that balance.

A Fashion Debate That Became a Conversation About Choice

The discussion surrounding Kriti Sanon’s GIVA advertisement ultimately goes beyond whether her outfit was appropriate for Raksha Bandhan.

It has become a conversation about personal choice, cultural expectations, advertising strategy and the scrutiny faced by women in the public eye.

Some viewers may prefer traditional styling during festivals, while others see no contradiction between celebrating a cultural occasion and choosing contemporary clothing.

The campaign itself brings together several modern elements: a Bollywood actor, a traditional festival, contemporary fashion and a pet-focused jewellery collection.

That combination was always likely to invite different interpretations.

For now, the debate surrounding Sanon’s appearance has given the GIVA campaign an additional layer of visibility, showing once again how quickly advertising can become part of a much larger social-media conversation.