Urban
Outfitters (UO), a publicly traded retail company headquartered in Philadelphia
(USA) which offers a variety of lifestyle merchandise, has removed Hindu goddess
Jewelry Stand from its website within about 12 hours after Hindus protested
calling it inappropriate.
Lotus
Jewelry Stand depicting multi-armed Hindu goddess Lakshmi seated on a lotus, an
“Online Exclusive” item which was described as “Perfect for holding all of your
rings + things.”, did not show up after search on UO website today within about
12 hours of Hindu statesman Rajan Zed informing the company officials via email
urging withdrawal.
Zed,
who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, and who spearheaded the
protest, in a statement in Nevada today, thanked UO for understanding the
concerns of Hindu community, which thought Hindu goddess Jewelry Stand was very
inappropriate and trivializing of highly revered Hindu
deity.
Rajan
Zed, however, indicated that an official apology from UO and its CEO Richard A.
Hayne to the upset Hindu community was still due as it was their third incident
trivializing a Hindu deity. Urban Outfitters apologized to Hindus and removed
Lord Ganesh socks from stores and web after protest spearheaded by Zed in
December 2013, calling it inappropriate. It removed Lord Ganesha Duvet Cover
from its website after another protest spearheaded by Zed in July 2014.
Zed
suggested UO and other corporations worldwide to send their senior executives
for training in religious and cultural sensitivity so that they had an
understanding of the feelings of customers and communities when creating new
products or launching advertising campaigns.
Rajan
Zed had earlier stressed that Hindu goddess was meant to be worshipped in
temples or home shrines and not for holding your “things”. Inappropriate usage
of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it
hurt the devotees.
Hinduism
was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion
adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken
frivolously. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled,
Zed stated.
Rajan
Zed had also pointed out that such trivialization of Hindu goddess was
disturbing to the Hindus world over. Hindus were for free artistic expression
and speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith was something sacred
and attempts at trivializing it hurt the followers, Zed
noted.
This
imported ceramic white colored Jewelry Stand priced at $69, which Hindu devotees
were finding objectionable, was elaborated as: “Enlightened white ceramic
storage solution shaped like Durga in a blooming lotus flower.” Actually it
appeared like multi-armed goddess Lakshmi seated on a
lotus.
UO,
Inc. offers merchandise in Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain
and BHLDN brands through stores in USA, Canada, and Europe; besides garden
center, catalogs, websites and wholesale. It boasts of its “established ability
to understand our customers and connect with them on an emotional level”, calls
its brands “both compelling and distinct” and terms itself as “innovative”
company. Richard A. Hayne and Tedford Marlow are President of UO, Inc., and
Chief Executive Officer of UO Group respectively.
In
Hinduism, Lakshmi is the goddess of good fortune and beauty and is also known as
‘world-mother’. There are about three million Hindus in USA.