The Hindu : National : Hari's grouse: looks like a commercial break

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Wednesday, Mar 29, 2006

National

National

Hari's grouse: looks like a commercial break

NEW DELHI: An 11-year-old boy is suing a website, arguing that a television commercial for it has dirtied his name — the very common Hari.

In the offending ad, a man makes a dinner reservation for his obviously obnoxious boss, named Hari Sadu, by saying: "That's H for Hitler, A for Arrogant, R for Rascal and I for... Idiot."

The ad for Naukri.com, which helps people find jobs, ends with the line: "Guess who's just heard from us."

But young Hari Bhanot does not find it funny — or at least he has not since classmates started calling him Hitler. "When I first saw the ad, I was like OK. But when everyone started teasing me, I felt really bad," he told the NDTV Profit business news channel. "They said, `hi Hitler,' and used abusive words."

After asking Nakuri.com to stop running the ad and getting no response, Hari's father, Aneesh Bhanot, said the family decided to sue the company for more than Rs. 1 crore. "Then we got two responses,'' he said. "One was a box of chocolates from the [advertising] team." It was not enough, he said.

Naukri.com, for its part, said it was not pulling the ad, noting that the name Hari was very common. — AP

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