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Cigarette ads are `just business' for Nidji
JP/ARIEF SUHARDIMAN JAKARTA: The members of pop-rock band Nidji have broken their silence over a protest by the National Commission for Child Protection about the band's involvement in a TV cigarette ad
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JP/ARIEF SUHARDIMAN
JAKARTA: The members of pop-rock band Nidji have broken their silence over a protest by the National Commission for Child Protection about the band's involvement in a TV cigarette ad.
In their defense, Nidji said they had no intention at all to indirectly call Indonesian children to smoking, as claimed by the commission.
"Appearing in the ad doesn't mean we are calling people to smoking," Velle, Nidji's manager, said on behalf of the whole band. "There's no such a call in the ad; we're just being the models."
Velle was quoted by detik.com as saying that appearing in the ad was just about business.
"We're doing business through music; we're part of showbiz," Velle said, adding, "Therefore, our decision to take the ad offer was only for commercial purposes - for money."
Nidji acknowledges that the band gained many fans among children after the success of the film Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Warriors), in which they perform a song with the same title.
The band and their managers are still discussing the matter and plan to reply to the commission's protest letter, Velle said.
"We will send a reply. Hopefully, our letter will really be able to represent us." - JP
