After the bindi backlash, Lenskart’s 2025 Pongal ad has gone viral

It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for eyewear retailer Lenskart. Following the recent backlash over its grooming policy, the eyewear retailer’s Pongal ad from 2025 has gone viral on social media.

The ad shows young models wearing traditional clothes but without bindi or tilak playing hopscotch. They are later shown dancing and trying on specs, grooving before making a rangoli and sitting down for a feast.

The feast on the table featured a surprise element – dates. That’s right. This was enough to anger netizens, who said the ad was made to mock Hindu festivals for no reason.

Reacting to the ad, former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai wrote, “This is a bad Woke adv. @Lenskart_com, and @peyushbansal seem to have fallen into the trap of WOKES poorly made Ads that compromise their customers’ interests and mock their festivals for no reason. Bad advertising, bad decisions.”

Reacting to the viral ad, Hyderabad-based Dr Sunita Sayammagaru said, “The real crime is plastic hair flowers, that too marigold…seriously?? Who in the world eats rice, dates and green chillies on banana leaves for Pongal?? They look malnourished, what do all Kondapalli dolls have like neck movements?? The ad team is giggling.”

A netizen asked how the ad is about Pongal in any way shape or form. “How is this @Lenskart_com ad about #pongal in any way? Pongal is a HINDU festival that celebrates a bountiful harvest, why show such fugly malnourished weird looking models doing weird things? @peyushbansal more proof that #AntiHinduLenskart is a reality,” the user wrote.

Another user flagged some issues with the foods featured in the ad. The user wrote, “Looks like lenskart is completely run by jehadi mind set.. Hindu festival and no bindi on women’s forehead.. dates on Pongal menu? What happened?? Uninstalled Lenskart today (sic)”

Another user wrote, “I know the drill. @Lenskart_com will now blame the ad agency for this rubbish. But everyone in the ad world knows that the brief is from the client. Hindus are shown ugly, malnourished, without bindi and plastic marigold flowers. The food makes me sick. Pongal dates? Is this modern or a Middle Eastern specific tradition pushed by a Hindu specific tradition? including already, this is erasure.”

Lenskart in the soup of the dress code policy, Piyush Goyal clarified

Recently, Lenskart faced a backlash over its alleged grooming policy for employees working in its stores. According to the screenshot of the policy that went viral on social media, there are restrictions on outfits and accessories with religious symbols.

On the hijab, it says, “If you wear a hijab, its color should be black. In addition to this, the hijab should have medium coverage on the chest and should not cover the logo.

It added that it is forbidden to wear a burqa in the shop. The viral grooming policy further mentions that if one wears a turban, it must be black in color.

After the document went viral, Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal clarified that the viral document that says the company has banned bindi and tilak is an outdated training document, not an HR policy.

The offending line was removed internally on February 17, before the controversy became public.

Taking personal responsibility, Bansal announced a stricter review of all internal material and made it clear that Lenskart would never restrict religious expression. “Lenskart was built in Bharat, by Indians, for Indians,” he wrote.