Why boycott calls surfaced over Swiggy’s Holi ad?

Foodtech company Swiggy has courted controversy with its Holi ad for its convenience grocery service, Instamart. Netizens took to social media to slam Swiggy with #HinduPhobicSwiggy. Swiggy Instamart had put out billboard ads that asked people not to pelt eggs at each other in the name of Holi and instead make a meal out of the food item.

The Swiggy instamart outdoor ad featured the photo of a couple of eggs and read: “Omelette” with a checked box next to it. The ad continued with “Sunny side-up” with another checked boxed next to it. Then it added “Kisi ke sarr par”, here the boxed had a red cross mark. “#BuraMatKhelo. Get Holi essentials on Instamart,” the ad concluded.

This didn’t go down well with netizens who asked the foodtech company not to tell them how to celebrate the festival of Holi.

A Twitter user pointed out that Swiggy didn’t tell Muslims how to celebrate Eid or Christmas how to celebrate Christmas. “Keep your Hinduphobia out of our festivals and let us celebrate Holi the way we want,” netizens emphasised.

Now, an ad by Bharat Matrimony, which highlighted the harassment that women face in the name of playing Holi, has also been slammed by a section of the netizens as being Hindu phobic. Incidentally, Holi this year coincided with the International Women’s Day, and Bharat Matrimony took the occasion to give out this powerful message.

One would recall that jewellery brand Tanishq, too, had faced netizens’s ire a few years ago when it featured women celebs asking people not to burst crackers during Diwali.

Surf Excel’s Holi ad from a few years back also was slammed by netizens for being ‘Hindu Phobic’ and even promoting “love jihad”.