The past week has given rise to the debate over the public display of charitable drives during the coronavirus lockdown.
While a lot of people were of the opinion that celebrities shouldn’t be showing off their ration distribution drives, others have come forward to say that the sole reason behind sharing their efforts is to inspire others to join in.
Actor Mani, recently shutdown all trolls bashing celebs for promoting social causes.
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“As pop culture celebrities when we share posts of our material wealth – our show ratings, our wardrobe, our holidays – it is labeled as “trending”. However, when we try to use our fame to do some good, it is unfairly being labeled as “cheap publicity stunt”. When celebrities flaunt their wardrobes, their cars, their dogs or their homes, it’s trendy, tasteful, cute and stylish.But when they try to do something good, so others can follow suit or join their drive, it’s suddenly cheap publicity!” the actor penned in the caption as he posted a picture of ration bags ready to be distributed to COVID-19 affectees.
Mani further added that him and his wife were taken aback over the backlash they endured on social media over their donation drive.
“In this lockdown when we saw the plight of the starving daily wage worker, Hira and I started a small donation drive at our place with the funds we had and put it up on Instagram we got a backlash, we just couldn’t understand!” he said.
He justified sharing pictures of their charity efforts so that it’s more accessible to the ones in need.
“We put up pictures on Instagram so whoever knew anyone deserving could contact us and refer that needy family. However, after a week we started running out of funds and appealed to others to join in. We also encouraged fans to start similar donations in their areas because our reach was limited,” he said.
“We didn’t put up pictures with the people who we were donating to, we didn’t show queues of deserving white-collar workers at our place. We don’t even go down to meet the people who come to our doorstep, so we don’t embarrass them and they don’t feel that we are doing it for publicity. And yet we are disliked for it,” he said.
The actor ended the note by saying that he and his wife will continue their efforts to help others despite the unnecessary criticism.
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