If I inadvertently step on a book or even happen to touch it with my little toe, I will feel weirdly uncomfortable and probably touch my fingers to my forehead. Most Indians will do the same. However this is not the reaction of people from most other countries. So when Puma did a shoot with Selena Gomez they did not think of the international cultural implications and the fallout of one particular image.
Singer and actor Selena Gomez is seen in this Puma photo shoot in what appears to be a library. In the second image, Gomez seems to be standing atop a pile of books.
People immediately noticed that she was standing on books – wearing shoes at that.
Gomez and the Puma people came in for all sorts of criticism; they were called callous, insensitive, etc. etc.
This tweet seems to point out rather modest talents of Ms. Gomez; which seem incommensurate with the amount of wealth and success she enjoys. Maybe books and learning don’t matter much to her, suggests this tweet.
Most of us will try our best never to step on a book. If we do by mistake, we remove that offending foot at once. It is childhood conditioning.
Many of the Indian tweeple explained why books are sacred to Hindus and Muslims and why an ad like this could be construed as insulting.
This commentator suggests that they are taking that old idiom of books being the ladder to knowledge rather literally.
Many expressed the view that Puma was being culturally insensitive and ignorant; that such a photoshoot would backfire on them.
This Twitter user points out that most Indians sell off old books as junk and that many of us have no value for books beyond this superficial respect.
Books don’t have emotions or feelings argued some. Others clarified that books are not viewed as sacred by other cultures and so people needed to stop getting so triggered by innocuous things like this
Many of the tweeple pointed out that the ‘books’ in question are mostly fake props – many of the books don’t seem to have separate pages and the spines are blank too in most. So perhaps people do need to lighten up a little. Meanwhile, the tweeple had a nice time discussing what is and is not appropriate with regard to books in different cultures. It was another day on Twitter; another tempest in a teacup.
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