New Delhi, July 21 -- Late last year, a "leaked" HR email from wellness platform Yes Madam showed the company firing two employees for reporting high stress. The mail was a marketing stunt to promote stress relief services, but the backlash was instant and brutal-It was criticized as tone-deaf and insensitive for trivializing job loss and mental health, dealing a reputational blow to the company.

This wasn't an isolated incident. Increasingly, Indian advertising is stumbling through an identity crisis-hyper-targeted and AI-optimized on the surface, emotionally hollow at the core. From ads served next to tragic news stories to brands defaulting to generic performance content, the industry seems stuck in a loop: efficient, but forgettable....