It is deliciously funny. Someone, i am guessing, in the management said “we need to do something about refugees. Something classy, but shows we care. But, how do you do this without featuring  poor, ugly, people.  ” (i kid you not, this is a phrase i have heard used in media houses. We don’t want no poor, ugly, people on our shows/papers/magazines) .

Someone else said, how about Priyanka Chopra taking up the cause of refugees, immigrants, and the page 3 jet set – by wearing a men’s banyan (or whatever the posh name for it is).

Someone else said “Let us do it”. A voice piped up “but, that is Nike”.

Conde Nast Traveller, put up an explanation this morning, that is just as funny as the original cover (if not funnier)

It’s time we demand better, and stand against the building of walls, literal and otherwise. We must demand a world free of racism and bigotry and prejudice, so that we—and generations after us—may enjoy all the abundance that travel offers, the beauty of a world that is open and rich and diverse in its people and cultures and geographies. And we must, in the midst of our many differences, find and celebrate our commonalities, our oneness. We must recognise that we are all on a journey. Whether we are moving across oceans or just a few kilometres, or in our mind’s eye, into a completely different world, whether we are doing so due to free will or circumstance—we are all travellers.

And this is why Priyanka Chopra—a star at home and abroad, who has experienced firsthand the opportunities that travel offers—is the perfect ambassador. It’s not about her being a refugee or immigrant or outsider; it’s about her, like us, recognising the power of travel, and joining us in asking everyone to do better for each other. 

We can start this journey by ensuring that gated communities, where most of Conde Nast Traveller audience lives, welcome the poor, hungry and dispossessed (within their own city and country) into their limits. I am looking forward to Conde Nast’s support on this campaign 🙂