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Wakefit presses snooze on L&T chair’s toxic comments

It’s better to sleep on the brand’s mattress than resort to such unhealthy work practices.

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Shreyas Kulkarni
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L&T x Wakefit

Sleep solutions brand Wakefit has joined the online and offline worlds of India in mocking and criticising L&T chairperson SN Subrahmanyan for suggesting a 90-hour workweek including Sundays because, “How long can you stare at your wife?"

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Set to Sunday Morning Love You, a song by Bhim Niroula, the 30-second spot shows a husband completely in love with his work much to the chagrin of his wife. She slaps him demanding who’ll love her on Sundays, and slaps him again when he answers, “How long can I stare at you?”

A voiceover explains that scuffles happen when you are not sleeping well and urges the husband to sleep on a Wakefit mattress. Made by social media agency The New Thing, this spot is part of the brand’s Gaddagiri campaign which bombs on viral issues with a humorous take. 

Previous episodes of Gaddagiri include takes on Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal’s polarising chief of staff job search, model Poonam Pandey’s comeback from the dead, the 70-hour workweek suggestion from Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, and the YesMadam debacle, of course. 

How Wakefit spins zany internet antics into mattress marketing gold

“Sunday morning lafda. Monday morning lafda. We cover lafdas every day,” writes The New Thing co-founder Viren Sean Noronha on LinkedIn summarising the Gaddagiri campaign in one sentence. 

Subrahmanyan’s comments and the defence L&T put forward after the uproar is a PR disaster for the major construction and engineering company. Media reports revealing his Rs 51 crore salary didn’t help.

What propelled the ridicule and criticism to greater heights was the open dismissal of the L&T chair’s comments from industry heads; a rarity in India Inc. 

Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto, weighed in on the controversy and told CNBC-TV18 “Let it (90 hours) start from the top.” At the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue 2025, Mahindra Group chairperson Anand Mahindra said, “My wife is wonderful; I love staring at her.”

Adar Poonawalla, CEO and owner, Serum Institute of India, agreed with Mahindra and wrote on X that his wife Natasha Poonawalla loves staring at him. He doubled down on work life balance writing, “Quality of work over quantity always.”

RPG Group chair Harsh Goenka did not go light on Subrahmanyan. “90 hours a week? Why not rename Sunday to ‘Sun-duty’ and make ‘day off’ a mythical concept! Working hard and smart is what I believe in, but turning life into a perpetual office shift? That’s a recipe for burnout, not success. Work-life balance isn’t optional, it’s essential. Well, that’s my view!” 

Actress Deepika Padukone took to Instagram and commented, “Shocking to see people in such senior positions make such statements” only to further write, “And they just made it worse,” after reading the company’s statement defending its chairperson.

L&T Wakefit The New Thing
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