The message? To earn respect, to have any standing you must look like a sahib or a memsahib otherwise you’ll be mistaken for criminal — and worse.

Launched in May, to coincide with the IPL Twenty20, the four commercials in the series so far are crude in their simplicity: how you look is who you are — a thief, a maid, or plain “low class.” Conversely, you are any of the above, if you don’t dress “properly.”

Bobby Pawar, Chief Creative Officer, Mudra Communications, the agency that created the ads for the retail chain, has this for an explanation: “There are no positives to dressing badly — unless you are a saint.”

So it doesn’t matter if the ads end up celebrating class prejudice and discrimination, at its most offensive.

Here are the Big Bazaar scenarios:

•Scene I: Shabbily dressed man approaches his car, one look at his clothes, and the guard pushes him away, screaming: Oye, kiski gaadi utha riya hai?. Enter Dhoni to the rescue with his band of sharp dressers: Gaadi to tumhari hai, par duniya tab manegi jab maalik dikhoge. (You own the car alright but the world will accept it only if you look the owner).

•Scene II: Shabbily dressed man (perhaps the same one?) helps young woman pick up her fallen belongings. His mobile rings, girl thinks he has stolen hers, raises the alarm, shabby man runs, is chased by passersby. Saved by Dhoni who tells him a man’s status is judged by his clothes. Hey presto, man turns into fashion plate and the mobile girl smiles at him.

•Scene III. A domestic help, carrying a broom, storms out of a house, cursing. A woman alights from her car. They meet, the maid looks her up and down and hands over the broom to her with words of advice — bargain for your salary before you begin work. Kachra ho gaya na, madam? comments the omniscient Dhoni to stunned woman. He adds, “Kapde dhang ke nahin to izzat bhi nahin” Whoosh! Women is transformed into supermodel.

•Scene IV: As two young boys (friends) trail two women, the better dressed one, distances himself from the simply dressed one... Another Dhoni sermon on life and looking good to the abandoned boy, another makeover.

The message? To have any standing you must look like a sahib or a memsahib otherwise you’ll be mistaken for criminal — and worse.

“It’s true,” says Pawar, “This is the reality on the streets...people are superficial, cruel and make assumptions on the basis of what you wear. The world has changed and today, your wardrobe must reflect that change… People judge you by that. Everyone feels better about themselves, if they dress better.”

The campaign aims to capture the imagination and wallets of “the masses”, especially youngsters from smaller cities, who, through the mass media, whose aspirations have increased with the success of “other India’ in reality TV shows or on the playing field, he says.

Dhoni as Big Bazaar’s brand ambassador typifies the transformation — the Ranchi boy who has taken the world of cricket by storm The once long-haired devil-may-care in a plain shirt and jeans, last seen with cropped gelled hair and a translucent shirt dancing with Saif Ali Khan. “He is the perfect crossover, “ says Pawar, “He is aware of who he is and dresses accordingly.”

But Dhoni’s style has been backed by substance, talent and hard work. Don’t the ads send just the opposite message? “Obviously, it is a put down. You have to slap people to wake them up. We aim to provoke...If you dress down, people will assume you belong to a certain strata, that’s the truth,” says Pawar.