Top Bollywood actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai has become embroiled in a racism uproar after she posed for an Indian jewelry advertisement. Rai was dressed to look like a noblewoman from the British 17th- or 18th-century Raj in India, to portray, as the advertising agency put it, “royalty, timeless beauty and elegance.” But after Rai had strutted her stuff, someone had the idea to complete the tone by inserting a backdrop featuring a small black boy holding a large red parasol to protect her from the sun. The final picture has infuriated civil rights activists, who say the juxtaposition of Rai and the “slave-child” is “insidiously racist.”
