Netizens React to PEMRA’s Ban on Mehwish Hayat Ad

After all those fiery discussions about the new ‘Gala Biscuit’ commercial starring Mehwish Hayat, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has responded by banning Mehwish Hayat’s biscuit ad.

PEMRA sent a notice to television channels after receiving complaints against the Mehwish Hayat biscuit ad. The media watchdog then advised channels to review the content of the advertisements, specifically the ‘Gala Biscuit TVC’ themselves.

The in-house monitoring committees of media channels have been tasked with reviewing adverts before airing them.

While some on social media were of the opinion that the Gala biscuit ad was profane and against Islamic values, PEMRA actually banned the advert for being irrelevant to the actual product.

Additionally, stakeholders such as advertisers have been advised not to use themes/content irrelevant to the actual nature of the product. However, this practice or trend was listed as a ‘violation of commonly accepted standards of decency but also socio-cultural norms of Pakistani society.‘