On Tuesday, Times of India ran a photo of Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, while the visiting member of the British Royal family visited the India Gate in Delhi.
She was there with her husband, Prince William, to pay homage to the martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti.
But, an overwhelming majority of social media users found the photo carried by Times of India in utterly poor taste.
Here’s why the users on Facebook were incensed. The ToI, often being accused of objectifying women through its coverage in the past, chose to focus on the accidental lifting of Duchess of Cambridge’s dress.
The paper’s headline said, “Kate’s Marilyn Moment at India Gate.” (See below)
One Facebook user Surabhi Sodhi posted the photo on social media platform with the following message;
“Dear Times of India, It’s time for you to change an editor or shut down the fu***** newspaper. Sincerely, On behalf of every Indian.
Well done, Our guests come to India and this is the photo you decide to put on your front page today.”
She was soon joined by hundreds of users, who appeared to agree with her outrage.
Here are some of the comments being posted on Facebook;
Vaquas Siddiqui: This is what u get when wrong ppl get into right place
Disgusting #TimesOfIndia haven’t done anything in the past that has evolved Journalism and brought respect to industry
Anand Atul: Same place. Same time. Marilyn Monroe moment..
This doesn’t makes it to newspapers. tongue emoticon
Harpreet Kaur: What non-sense. It’s a blot on the name of a renowned newspaper.
Anmol Gupta : Seriously! This kind of thing is very common and happens very often when girls wear dresses. I suggest the stupid editor or in fact the CEO of the company should post a massive photo on their newspaper’s front page when their sister or daughter have the marilyn moment.
But Times of India wasn’t alone in to receive flak and condemnation. Some users posted a clipping of Amar Ujala, which too had chosen to focus on Kate Middleton’s wardrobe malfunction.
The outrage against the newspaper wasn’t limited to Facebook. On Twitter too, users were quick to condemn the paper reminding how it had denigrated Indian actor, Deepika Padukone by choosing to provide attention to the actor’s cleavage.
From Deepika's cleavage to Kete's Marilyn moment. @timesofindia has every masala, a soft pron paper need, to sell. pic.twitter.com/e1e2CMZbfQ
— Amit Jaiswal Jain (@ArkJaiswal) April 12, 2016
So many stories startup, success, unfortunate etc. but somehow @timesofindia manages to find out Marilyn Monroe moment or cleavage stories.
— Ritwick Maindargi (@thatritwick) April 12, 2016
Kate's Marilyn moment at India Gate .. That's the front page news of toilet paper of India @timesofindia pic.twitter.com/pImF9TwMMW
— Exsecular 2.0 (@ExSecular) April 12, 2016
"Kate's Marilyn moment at India Gate" headline with photo. Imagine the discussion in @timesofindia office for publishing it. अतिथि देवो भवः?
— अमित सिंह (@amitsingh2203) April 12, 2016