India Post News Service
Boston: A Boston headquartered online home giant Wayfair has removed beach-towel carrying the image of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh, within an hour of protests from a large group of Indian Americans calling it “highly inappropriate.
Jane Carpenter, Global Head of Communications of Wayfair, in an email to Rajan Zed, who spearheaded the protest, wrote: “thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We appreciate your feedback and have taken immediate steps to remove the products from the site. Please accept our sincere apology.
In turn, RajanZed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, thanked Wayfair for understanding the concerns of the Hindu community, which thought that placing an image of Lord Ganesh on a beach-towel was disrespectful.
Lord Ganesh is highly revered in Hinduism and is not meant for wiping various parts of your body, lie/sit/stand/walk on it, drying pet-animals, placing your shoes/stuff on it; for commercialization. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols or icons for commercial or other agenda is not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Rajan Zed was also seeking the removal of hand-towels displaying images of Hindu deities Lord Shiva and goddess Lakshmi (both described as great to use in bathroom or gym) for similar reasons, which also seemed to have been removed. Moreover, the picture of beach-towel (earlier posted on the website) showed flip-flops over the image of Lord Ganesha, which was quite insensitive; Zed had indicated.
Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents Lord Ganesh is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles
The objectionable Hindu Elephant Beach Towel, “great for summertime fun” and Made in USA, was priced at $25.99.
Awards-winning Wayfair, founded in 2002, which sells furniture, décor, lighting, outdoor, etc.; claims to be “one of the world’s largest online destinations for the home” and offer selection of over 18 million items. Besides Boston headquarters, it has corporate offices in Berlin and London with operations throughout North America and Europe.
