Zomato withdraws “Kachra” campaign after being called out by netizens

Zomato came out with a World Environment Day campaign which netizens found casteist thus calling into question at what length can brands go to for performative action.

By  Indrani BoseJun 8, 2023 9:10 PM
Zomato withdraws  “Kachra” campaign after being called out by netizens
The ad campaign was criticised for being tone deaf towards marginalised castes. It also attracted flak from National film award winner film director Neeraj Ghaywan who called the Zomato ad "repulisve and casteist".

Zomato is facing backlash after releasing a promotional advertisement “Kachra can change the game” on occasion of the World Environment Day. Kachra translates into waste and/or trash in Hindi. Zomato was attempting to show what the brand has been doing to challenge climate change. But it ended up facing tremendous backlash across social media for appropriating casteism. This calls into question if brands can go to any extent to greenwash.

The ad’s “main” character is Kachra, which has references to the critically acclaimed Bollywood film Lagaan. Aditya Lakhia who is depicted as a member of an oppressed and marginalized ‘untouchable’ community personifies Kachra. Lakhia is shown to be recycled kachra in the ad — playing the role of a towel (where one can blow their nose into), a table, a flower pot, among others. This triggered many people as a result of which Zomato deleted the ad and posted the following message.

"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," the company said on Twitter.

The ad campaign was criticised for being tone deaf towards marginalised castes. It also attracted flak from National film award winner film director Neeraj Ghaywan who called the Zomato ad "repulisve and casteist".

Let’s take a look at some of the criticism that Zomato faced on Twitter.

Communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan also posted a tweet on the controversial topic.

Then another netizen whose Twitter handle is @_ambedkarite posted the following.

Aditya Mani Jha, a freelance journalist also put forward his views in a tweet.

First Published on Jun 8, 2023 8:29 PM

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