Saurabh Verma Said 'NO' To Controversial Layer'r Shot Ad As He Found It 'Derogatory & Demeaning For Women'

Recently, perfume and body spray Layer'r Shot's controversial ad had shocked the public. Several netizens and even celebrities slammed the ad that promotes rape culture. After receiving immense backlash, the brand apologised and asked other media partners to stop the telecast with immediate effect. Apparently, actor Saurabh Verma, who was offered a part in the now-withdrawn advertisement campaign for the perfume brand, had refused to be a part of it.

As per a viral LinkedIn post by the actor's friend, Abbas Mirza- a senior creative director at a marketing company, shared screenshots of Saurabh's discussion, in which he politely declined the offer as he found it 'derogatory and demeaning for women'.

Abbas Mirza shared a screenshot of the WhatsApp conversation and wrote, "One of my actor friends said 'NO' to LAYER'R SHOT ad when he was approached for it. I think his story needs to be told! I had gone to Lokhandwala for some work when I bumped into Saurabh Verma, a close actor friend. We sat in a coffee shop and somehow started discussing bad ads after dissecting few good ones."
He further wrote, "And it was then he revealed that he was approached to audition for the misogynistic deodorant ad. The moment he read the script, he proposed changing it. And for the people who work in advertising, and are aware of the production-house/actor power equation, they will understand how audacious the demand is! And when that didn't happen, he politely refused to audition for it but not before pointing out the problem to the casting agent over a Whatsapp chat."

Saurabh's WhatsApp message read as, "No hard feelings but this script is derogatory and demeaning for women. I have not seen anything like this before for advertisements. So, will skip this one. Let me know if something new comes up." He ended his response with a smiley.

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Many appreciated the actor's stance and applauded him for informing the makers about the sexist message of the ad.