Ahead of its Republic Day sale, Flipkart has rolled out a campaign ‘Chaanta Classes By Harbhajan Singh’ featuring the veteran Indian cricketer.

The ad film is based on a quirky desi insight that whenever an appliance stops working, the first instinct is to thump it, and if that doesn’t work, slap it till it sputters to life. 

The film showcases Singh as a stern, hyper-intense instructor running a mock classroom where students of all ages are trained in the 'art of slapping' appliances correctly. The narrative hinges on Singh's exaggerated gestures aimed at perfecting the correct 'chaanta' technique, culminating with the message: stop slapping appliances and simply upgrade them during Flipkart’s Republic Day sale.

The insight itself is familiar and serviceable, and as a metaphor to nudge consumers towards replacement, it is not without merit. The problem lies not in the idea, but in the casting, and the cultural memory it is intended to activate. For a generation of Indian viewers, Singh is inseparable from the infamous on-field assault on fellow cricketer Sreesanth during an IPL match, with the incident, often referred to as ‘slapgate' - a moment of real aggression that led to disciplinary action and long-term consequences. 

What we think about it: By anchoring a slap-centric joke on a personality infamously associated with landing a real slap on a fellow cricketer, the brand risks appearing flippant about aggression, even if unintentionally so. A different face could have delivered the same idea more cleanly, without the baggage that this casting inevitably brings. While, on paper, the idea may seem like a harmless cultural insight, in execution the choice of protagonist turns the gag into something unsettling. This blurs the line between cheeky humour and the trivialisation of a violent outburst, which could have been best avoided.