Sunny Leone Criticized for Promoting Condoms During India Holiday

GUJARAT, India—Canadian-born adult performer Sunny Leone spent about 10 years performing in adult videos, mostly for Vivid and mostly in girl/girl action, and another five years directing XXX movies for the company she and husband Daniel Weber formed together, Sunlust Pictures, distributed by Vivid. But even before she left the adult industry altogether, and because she is ethnically Indian, Leone caught the attention of several Indian directors, and in 2013 began appearing in Indian television series and then full-length films, perhaps the most famous of which are Ragini MMS 2 and Mastizaade, both of which were considered slightly scandalous by the Indian news media, in part because of Leone's adult background. But Leone has pressed forward, taking her mainstream career very seriously and fending off the critics who assumed that she was still trading on her body to obtain roles, while garnering praise for her acting abilities from others. Along the way, Leone also became the Southeast Asian brand ambassador for Manforce condoms, one of the area's most popular brands—and it's because of that role that Leone is once again in the news, thanks to the celebration of Navratri, which begins today and runs until September 30. According to IndiaToday.com, "Navratri—or the nine sacred days—mark the most auspicious days of the lunar calendar according to Hinduism. Celebrated with fervour and festivity all over north India, and every Hindu community the world over, these nine days are dedicated solely to Maa Durga (goddess Durga) and her nine avatars." Each of the avatars has its own personality and associated color which adherents wear when celebrating each avatar. Many also fast during the holiday, some for the full nine days and some for only two, and there are certain foods which are considered holiday favorites, much as turkeys are identified with the American Thanksgiving. But one aspect of the celebrations, which often go on all night and involve much dancing, is that at least some of the participants, especially the younger ones, are more likely to get intimate with the opposite sex during the festivities—and that's where Leone and Manforce come in. "Children can do anything," one parent was quoted by Reuters as saying under these circumstances. "Drugs, unprotected sex, and bad company are my main worry." With just those sorts of worries in mind, Manforce created a billboard campaign, centered largely in Gujarat state in western India, which features a gigantic image of Leone dressed in traditional Indian garb and looking approvingly at the slogan "Aa Navratrie ramo parantu prem thi," which translates as "This Navratri, play, but with love." The billboard also features the Manforce logo prominently at the bottom, though no image of a condom or the Manforce packaging. Nevertheless, the shit hath hitteth the fan in the largely sexually conservative country. "The problem really is the billboard," journalist Sandip Roy wrote. "We are a 'don't ask, don't tell' society. Sunny Leone is our goddess of the darkened movie theatre or our private bedrooms….When Sunny Leone winks at us from a billboard on a busy highway as we are headed to work or a family dinner, we look away nervously… Sunny Leone reminding us that we might have lustful thoughts during Navaratri embarrasses us even if the condom sales spike prove that she’s on the money." (Indeed; since Leone became the brand ambassador in 2012, sales of Manforce condoms have spiked, and are now the best-selling brand in the country.) The campaign inspired the ire of the huge Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which wrote in a letter to prime minister Narendra Modi’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, "This is an immature attempt to boost sales by putting all our cultural value at stake." That claim fails even cursory scrutiny, because as the website IndiaToday.com has noted, condom sales always go up during the Navratri season, reportedly anywhere from 25 to 50 percent, as do sales of "adult games, edible lingerie, edible body paints and pleasure rings," not to mention "lubricants, penis pumps, sexy lingeries and intimate massagers." Another Navratri-related spike: abortions, thanks to all the unprotected sex. But CAIT has a lot of influence in India, and "outraged" citizens and governments in several areas have removed the billboards—and the press has castigated Leone for appearing in the ad.