It is out of the frying pan and into the fire for eyewear retailer Lenskart. After the recent backlash over its grooming policy, the eyewear retailer’s Pongal ad from 2025 went viral on social media.
The ad shows young models wearing traditional clothes but no 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 showed a surprise element — dates. That’s right. This was enough to irk the netizens further, who said that the ad was made to mock Hindu festivals for no reason.
Reacting to the ad, former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai wrote, “This is a very bad Woke adv. @Lenskart_com, and @peyushbansal seems to have fallen into the trap of WOKES badly made Ads compromising their customers’ interest and making fun of their festivals for no reason. Bad advertising, bad decisions.”
Reacting to the viral ad, Hyderabad-based Dr Sunita Sayammagaru said, “The real crime are the plastic flowers in the hair, that too marigold…seriously?? Who in the world eats rice, dates and green chillies on a banana leaf for Pongal?? They look malnourished, what’s with all those Kondapalli doll like neck movements and the giggling?? The ad team has gone bonkers.”
A netizen asked how is the ad about Pongal in any way or shape. “How is this @Lenskart_com ad about #pongal in any way? Pongal is a HINDU festival celebrating bounty of the harvest, why show such fugly malnourished weird looking models doing weird stuff? @peyushbansal more proof that #AntiHinduLenskart is a reality,” the user wrote.
Another user flagged some issues with the food items shown in the ad. The user wrote, “Looks like lenskart is completely run by jehadi mind set.. Hindu festival and no bindi on foreheads of women’s.. dates on Pongal menu? What the heck is going on?? Uninstalled Lenskart today (sic)”
Yet another user wrote, “I know the drill. @Lenskart_com will now blame the ad agency for this trash. But everyone in the ad world knows that the brief comes from the client. Hindus are shown ugly, malnourished, no bindi and plastic marigold flowers. The food makes me sick. Dates on Pongal? Is this modernity or a Middle Eastern aesthetic pushed by specific investors? Sanitising Hindu traditions to fit a global brief isn’t inclusive, it’s erasure.”
Lenskart in soup over dress code policy, Piyush Goyal clarifies
Recently, Lenskart faced 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 were restrictions on outfits and accessories with religious symbols.
On the hijab, it stated, “If you wear a hijab, it should be black in colour. Videos of hijab tutorial would be circulated for ease.” It further said that the hijab should be of medium chest coverage and should not cover the logo.
It added that wearing a burqa in the store is not allowed. The viral grooming policy further mentioned that if one wears a turban, it should be black in colour.
After the document went viral, Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal clarified that the viral document claiming the company bans bindi and tilak is an outdated training document, not an HR policy.
The offending line was removed internally on February 17, before the controversy went public.
Accepting personal responsibility, Bansal announced stricter review of all internal materials and was unequivocal that Lenskart will never restrict religious expression. “Lenskart was built in Bharat, by Indians, for Indians,” he wrote.
