Satire: JAM Magazine Apologizes

Background:

The Mumbai Police has booked Rashmi Bansal, editor and publisher of a popular youth magazine JAM, on the charge of hurting the religious sentiments of a community by publishing an allegedly derogatory advertisement.

News Coverage of the JAM controversy

JAM stated an apology on it's website, which is quoted below. The rest is my extension.

JAM's Official Apology

The latest issue of JAM magazine carried an ad for World AIDS Day featuring illustrations which have caused hurt to the sentiments of the community. JAM magazine sincerely apologizes for hurt which was inadvertently caused.

We are doing everything possible to make amends. JAM magazine copies have been withdrawn from all newsstands.

JAM has been in publication for 11 years. It is a fun magazine meant for the youth and steers clear of religious issues. We sincerely regret that these illustrations slipped in.

Since our readership comprises all castes, communities and religions, we would never intentionally do anything to hurt their sentiments.

For the last 11 years, JAM has built up a "cool" image, a brand popular among today's college going youth as something they can relate to, something they can trust.

We are sorry, that every once in a while, we use this medium to slip in important messages about relevant social issues.

We are sorry that we tried to use humour to spread an important message, hoping to influence the young minds in a subtle manner rather than brute force.

We are sorry that we sacrificed lucrative ad revenue for a public service announcement. We'll now replace it with an ad for Levis or Pepsi, and focus on our profits, which is what we should have done in the first place.

We are sorry that our society has become so complacent that for a country on the brink of an AIDS catastrophe, the advertiser had to use 'shock and awe' tactics to raise awareness.

We are sorry that people in our society have such a low tolerance when it comes to their religion that the slightest provocation brings them on the warpath.

We are sorry that we can't tell a joke anymore without fearing a backlash. We already know what happens when we make fun of religion. Jokes on politics would probably see our office being trashed.

We are sorry that from now on, all our future articles will be written with this incident in the back of our minds, thus subconsciously dulling the edgy satires that we are famous for. God forbid, but we might just end up like ToI's JLT.

We are sorry for violating the constitutional rights of this country. We had no idea that when they said we have full Freedom of Speech in this country, it came with a condition, "Only valid when you don't make fun of our beliefs or those in power."

We are truly sorry for the fact that our countrymen have lost the ability to laugh at themselves.

But most of all we're sorry that we spent the last 11 years trying our best to change this very mindset - we tried to poke fun at the institutions of power, exaggerate the stereotypes, and mock the defects in our society. We tried to use humour and sarcasm to effectively cloak our criticisms, hoping that people would see the lighter side, hoping that they would learn to laugh at their own imperfections, and in doing so accept their flaws and improve themselves.

We are sorry that we have, obviously, achieved nothing.