New Delhi: Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has joined the ever-growing list of companies to bow to right-wing outrage on social media against festival campaigns.
Swiggy will bring down billboards in the capital region which carried its advertisement discouraging people from throwing eggs at each other this Holi, a person in the know said.
The company faced much outrage on Twitter over the ad with several accounts branding it “Hinduphobic”. The hashtags #BoycottSwiggy and #HinduphobicSwiggy were also trending. However, it is not immediately clear in these angry tweets why Swiggy’s message is anti-Hindu.
Some of these posts have thousands of retweets, and people are even uploading screenshots of uninstalling the application over the controversy.
The recent Billboard advertisement of @Swiggy is a clear attempt to defame Holi & create a negative perception among people. The lack of similar Ads for non-Hindu festivals shows a clear bias. Show some sensitivity and Apologize to Hindu community. #HinduPhobicSwiggy pic.twitter.com/vSomzhSiBO
— Elvish Yadav (@ElvishYadav) March 7, 2023
HINDU WILL #boycottswiggy pic.twitter.com/yCRyjjzlSR
— Dr. Prachi Sadhvi (@Sadhvi_prachi) March 6, 2023
The Swiggy advertisement is the latest in several festival campaigns that have been criticised by the right-wing Hindutva ecosystem.
I sent a mail to
support@swiggy.com
To deactivate my Account as they just attacked our Holy Religious Festival and Hindu Religion.#Swiggy#boycottswiggy pic.twitter.com/XknSGXkqaO
— Paramanand ࿗ 🇮🇳 (@paramanand_3) March 5, 2023
Critics argue that companies choose to run “negative” campaigns only during Hindu festivals, but take a “celebratory” tone when it comes to occasions of other faiths.
• On Christmas – Merry Christmas
• On Eid – Eid Mubarak
• On Holi – BuraMatKhelo/Dont use Egg
Such Exclusive Gyan can be expected only from @Swiggy#HinduPhobicSwiggy pic.twitter.com/KRmoS9z0Vl
— Elvish Yadav (@ElvishYadav) March 7, 2023
Another story adding fuel to fire is of a Swiggy delivery partner, who alleged in a video last week that he was fired by the company for refusing to deliver mutton to a Hanuman temple.
A senior advertising guru, who didn’t wish to be named, said that people have completely misread the campaign. “The ad is not discouraging anyone from playing Holi. It doesn’t intend to be disrespectful. It simply says we must not throw eggs at each other. Isn’t that a problem that can be talked about,” he told ThePrint over phone.
Previously boycotted ads
Over the years, brands have walked on thin ice over festival advertising as boycott campaigns have become commonplace.
Before #BoycottSwiggy, there were calls to boycott Surf Excel over their Holi campaign “Rang Laaye Sang”. In a minute-long ad in 2019, the brand sought to promote Hindu-Muslim harmony in a campaign that backfired. The ad told the story of a young girl who helped her Muslim friend evade getting Holi colours on himself as he was headed to a masjid for namaz. The boy, in fact, said that once he was done praying, he would come out and play. Twitter users were of the opinion that the ad about two children was promoting “Love Jihad”.
In 2021, Fab India had to pull down their Diwali campaign #JashnERiwaz, after calls for a boycott gained momentum on Twitter over the use of an Urdu phrase for a Hindu festival campaign.
Dabur also had to withdraw a 2021 “Karva Chauth” ad that showed a lesbian relationship.
On such prolific boycott campaigns, the ad veteran said: “What can one do about idiots tweeting all kinds of stupid things?”
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