On 30 January, Vedanta released its maiden national corporate publicity campaign — Creating Happiness, a 90-second film created by Ogilvy & Mather — across television channels. Binno, a little girl from rural Rajasthan and the face of the campaign, has already endeared herself to millions. The campaign also features 38 short films made by students of Film and Television Institute of India, Indian Institute of Mass Communication and other institutes. Understandably, thousands of victims of Vedanta’s environmental and human rights abuse see little endearing in Binno’s smile. Now among them are 500 children from Odisha’s Puri district who belong to families affected by the Vedanta University Project (VUP). On 10 February, they suddenly became dispensable liabilities in the MNC’s mega scheme of things.
See http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ne030312Creating.asp.
There is a campaign against this Vedanta initiative – see http://kractivist.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/faking-happiness-spoof-ad-competition/
and sign the petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/ambika-soni-stop-vedanta-from-broadcasting-their-misleading-ad-campaign?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=friends_wall.