California company withdraws Lord Ganesh socks |
The Santa Cruz, Calif.-based sock company, MERGE4, apologized and pulled a pair of socks carrying an image of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh after Hindus protested, calling it “highly inappropriate. ”Cindi Busenhart, founder and CEO of MERGE4, in an email to Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who spearheaded the protest, wrote: “We offer our sincere apologies to the Hindu community. We have removed the Ganesh socks from our website and plan to discontinue the design…it was not our intention to trivialize the Hindu faith in any way.`The socks were selling for $20 and $11.Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism, an Indian American advocacy group, in a statement in Nevada July 27 thanked MERGE4 and Busenhart for understanding the concerns of the Hindu community, which believed using an image of Lord Ganesh on such a product was highly insensitive.Zed suggested that MERGE4 and other companies should send their senior executives for training in religious and cultural sensitivity so that “they understand the feelings of customers and communities” when introducing new products or launching advertising campaigns.
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