E-commerce retailer Myntra was recently in the news for changing the design of its logo after a Mumbai-based activist lodged a complaint with the state cyber police, alleging that the company’s signage was “insulting and offensive” towards women. The complainant, Naaz Patel of Avesta Foundation, said that the “obscene” logo shows a woman’s “legs spread out in a suggestive manner”. The reasoning she provided for wanting the logo to be changed was that she felt that it would “lead to further victimisation of women in our society”.
Several friends asked me if I found the old Myntra logo offensive as a woman and a feminist. The truth is, I never saw the logo as showing a woman spreading her legs and was thus never offended by it – but now cannot unsee the complainant’s interpretation. It simply looked like the letter ‘M’ in orange and pink. Many people feel the logo was “not so explicit” that it warranted a redesign. At best, it was open to interpretation – with Naaz Patel’s reading being one interpretation.
As soon as the news broke, #MyntraLogo and #MyntraLogoChange began trending on social media. Responses to Myntra’s decision to change its logo have ranged from jokes about suggestive logos of other brands to editorials condemning this “intolerance”. People shared memes that point out how the Doordarshan logo can be seen as a sexual position and those of Amazon, Byju’s, Tesla and even SBI as phallic symbols. Pictures of cut fruit that resemble female genitalia went viral. Many feminists also distanced themselves from Patel’s complaint, saying that they never found Mytra’s logo offensive and that the complaint was baseless.
Many have also been quick to complain about “intolerance” and “censorship”. For instance, a Times Of India editorial read:
“This is another face of intolerance. A brand being forced to change its logo because the overactive imagination of a few people who find it offensive is unacceptable.”
Scores more online say it’s unfair that a brand had to change the design of its logo on its website, advertisements and packaging materials based on one “frivolous” complaint. The narrative that’s being created is that a single woman was able to force a big company to change its logo because it offended her.
This is just not true. What really happened is that Myntra was successfully lobbied to change its logo because the police found merit in the complaint and asked the company to change it. In an interview to MidDay, Rashmi Karandikar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime), explained that Myntra decided to change its logo after the police contacted them.
She said, “Naaz Ekta Patel, who runs an NGO, has been complaining about the logo for the past three years on social media and other forums. She said it is offensive to women and should be changed. She brought this complaint to the Cyber Cell. We saw the logo and felt that it is offensive to women. We called for a meeting with Myntra. They have sent us an email saying they will change their logo within a month.”
Also read: What a US Senate Hearing in 1985 Tells Us About the Myntra Logo Fiasco
This makes it clear that Myntra decided to change its logo after the police stepped in. But that hasn’t prevented a misogynistic backlash against feminists and feminism. People have seized this opportunity to blame feminist activists. Viral memes and jokes are perpetuating harmful stereotypes of feminist activists as “shrill” or “oversensitive” people who don’t focus on the “real issues”.
A discourse is being created about “real feminists” who focus on what are seen as deserving problems, as opposed to “fake feminists” or “pseudo feminists”, who supposedly “outrage” over non-issues such as the logo in question.
This dismissal of feminist concerns isn’t new. Be it regressive advertisements, item songs, television soaps or even posters that objectify women, whenever feminists call out sexism in popular culture and media, we are derided as “feminazis” who “can’t take a joke”. Memes, jokes and posts about this abound in the aftermath of the Myntra controversy.
Another misogynistic response to the news has been complaints that women suddenly have a lot of power, that a big brand has been “bullied” into making a change because women are very powerful. This problematic take completely overlooks the realities of gender inequality in this country, and the fact is that feminists have been fighting rather unsuccessfully to make media and advertising more equitable for women for years. This is not a feminist victory.
This misogynistic discourse that has been blaming women and feminists for Myntra’s decision and complaining that we have too much power needs to change. Myntra isn’t changing its logo because women get special treatment or because feminists are suddenly running the show in this country. Far from it. Blaming feminists and complaining about them isn’t a protest against “intolerance”. It’s just misogyny.
Tanvi Khemani is a writer and researcher from Kolkata. Follow her on Instagram @teekay_thesedays
Featured image credit: Myntra