New Delhi: Food delivery platform Zomato was forced to take down an advertisement campaign which it had launched three days ago as it caused a furore on social media.
The ad, launched on the occasion of World Environment Day (June 5), was meant to highlight and raise awareness on the problems that our planet faces due to plastic waste. But it backfired badly.
Netizens slammed Zomato for featuring actor Aditya Lakhia, who had played ‘Kachra’ in the iconic movie ‘Lagaan’, in the ad campaign as it drew a comparison between ‘kachra’ (waste or garbage) and the marginalised, paraplegic character from the 2001 Aamir Khan film.
Lakhia’s character from ‘Lagaan’ was used as a reference to garbage.
It didn’t go down well with social media users, though Zomato claimed it had absolutely good intentions while making the ad.
The ad showed Lakhia in different settings — from a recycled hand towel to a flower pot — representing plastic waste or ‘kachra’.
Usually, I’m a big fan of Zomato’s marketing, mostly done in-house. But their new ad film, made for World Environment Day, made for an uncomfortable watch, at least for me – your mileage may vary.
I understand the intent: to use the ‘Kachra’ character from Lagaan for his name 1/5 pic.twitter.com/WmoYYS4grg— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) June 6, 2023
In ‘Lagaan’, Lakhia’s character Kachra, a Dalit, was belittled for his caste and players from Bhuvan’s (Aaamir) team did not want him to be included in the playing XI.
People criticised Zomato for its insensitive and tone-deaf treatment of the subject.
“#Kachra from #Lagaan was one of the most dehumanised voiceless depictions of Dalits ever in cinema. @zomato has used the same character and made a repulsive #casteist commercial. A human stool? Are you serious? Extremely insensitive!” ‘Masaan’ director Neeraj Ghaywan tweeted.
Following the massive backlash, Zomato decided to remove the advertisement.
and issued a statement on social media that reads,
“On World Environment Day, our intent was to spread awareness about the potential of plastic waste and benefits of recycling in a humorous way. Unintentionally, we may have hurt the sentiments of certain communities and individuals. We have taken down the video.”
