Zomato has responded to negative feedback it has received on social media with regards to its latest advertisements featuring Katrina Kaif and Hrithik Roshan. A statement from the food delivery aggregator addresses some of the complaints viewers had with the ads.
Zomato’s ads operate on the same premise. One of them shows a Zomato delivery partner being stunned when he rings the doorbell to deliver an order and sees Hrithik Roshan. The Bollywood star asks him to take a selfie, and the delivery partner is more than happy to oblige – until the phone rings, notifying him of another order to deliver.Zomato’s delivery partner happily forgoes taking a selfie with Hritik Roshan in order to deliver the order because ‘Hrithik Roshan ho ya aap, apne liye har customer hai star (Because whether it’s you or Hrithik Roshan, every customer is a star for Zomato).’
While the Katrina ad follows a similar pattern, the actress asks the Zomato delivery partner to wait for a piece of birthday cake, which he is unable to get since his phone pings with another order.
On social media, the ads were criticized for being tone-deaf in a day and age when gig workers are being treated unfairly. People pointed out on Twitter that Zomato’s ads suggest delivery partners don’t have a minute to rest between delivering orders, while others said the company would rather spend money on celebrity ads than pay their delivery partners fair wages.
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In response to the criticism, Zomato said the ads were conceptualized six months ago, which was ‘long before any social media chatter around gig worker payouts/ working conditions.’ Additionally, the company stated the goal for these advertisements was to make delivery partners the star of the ads, emphasize the importance of talking respectfully to delivery partners, emphasise the dignity associated with a delivery partner’s role, and emphasize that every customer is a star for the company.
‘We believe that our ads are well-intentioned, but were unfortunately misinterpreted by some people,’ wrote Zomato.
The other side of the story… pic.twitter.com/hNRj6TpK1X
— zomato (@zomato) August 30, 2021
In its statement, the company noted social media chatter about gig workers and their unfair working conditions. Recent months have seen an increase in demands that Zomato and other delivery platforms do more to protect the interests of their delivery associates, who have complained of long hours, unrealistic delivery timelines, and unfair wages. ‘We understand that you expect more and better from us,’ said Zomato.
‘Our delivery partner Net Promoter Score has increased from -10% to 28% (and continues to rise). We will also, very soon, publish a blog post explaining why we think our delivery partners are fairly compensated for the work/time that they put in,’ Zomato concluded.
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