USA, October 18, 2002: American Hindus Against Defamation issued a press release today which reads in part, “Kohler Company, one of the most prominent plumbing supply companies, is using Lord Nataraja (a form of Lord Siva) in the form of a scantly clad woman and taking a shower to hawk its new shower products. The image in the Kohler advertisement appeared in The New York Times on Sunday, October 13, 2002. This image is unmistakably that of Lord Siva as Nataraja. The dancing pose, multiple hands, the hand gestures, the metaphor of water from shower too, resembles the flow of river Ganga (Ganges) usually depicted as flowing through Lord Siva. The tag line for the advertisement, ‘There is a Goddess,’ clearly indicates that the advertisement is no coincidence; it is an unequivocal indication that the image of Lord Siva was distorted and adopted for the advertisement purpose. AHAD is unhappy by the use of the image of Lord Shiva in such a disrespectful manner. AHAD requests the Hindu community to visit their web site and sign the protest book at ‘source’ above.”
A daily summary of world news for Hindus and non-Hindus alike