Ola has been criticized on social media after her marketing strategy failed. The taxi aggregator company sent a notification to its customers’ phones, reading “8 missed calls from mum”. The notification was followed by “she wanted to tell you that there is 40% off fruits and vegetables at Ola Dash. She also wants you to stop eating so much bahar ka khana (external food). The strategy didn’t sit well with customers who criticized the company on social media and called it a “terrible clickbait.” They objected to various aspects of the promotion: alarmist, as well as insensitive to those who may have lost their mothers. The incident comes shortly after another marketing misstep by e-commerce brand Flipkart on International Women’s Day.
8 missed calls from mom? #ola Please stop your annoying notification stunts. There is literally no option to stop these notifications. There is a basic ethic in marketing, go read about it. @Olacabs— Kaustubh Bagalkote (@BKaustubh_) 11 mars 2022
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@Olacabs this messaging really sucks and so does your service. What if something really bad happens to my mom and I get this message? And when in an emergency I need you most, you ask “cash or online”. #ola #uber pic.twitter.com/hbbLZFxDFg— Manab Boruah (@ManabBoruah) 9 mars 2022
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hey @Olacabs, using catchy lines like clickbait is fine. But I wonder how people would really feel if they had 8 missed calls from their mom only to find out it’s an OLA promo. I guess most would be “panics”. I felt sad though, I lost my mother over a year ago. pic.twitter.com/q6vxXrsjYE— Vijay Subramanian (@VijaySubramanian) 10 mars 2022
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@Olacabs What’s wrong?? Who came up with such a marketing disaster? How insensitive. Especially when people like me have been waiting ages for a call from mom and know it’s not going to happen in our lifetime. You are pathetic. #OLA pic.twitter.com/xHx2MNNS5Y— Nishant Joel (@nishant_joel) 12 mars 2022
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In a similar incident, Flipkart apologized for its post on International Women’s Day, which it called sexist. On Women’s Day, consumers received a text message from the e-commerce company asking them to celebrate the day with a discount on kitchen appliances. This drew criticism on social media, as Flipkart’s method of wooing female customers by slashing the price of kitchen appliances was seen as regressive. After many pointed this out, the e-commerce site posted an apology on Twitter.
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