Screenshot from the Flipkart advert featuring Amitabh Bachchan.
Credit: X/@AIMDAINDIA
An advertisement by e-commerce giant Flipkart featuring megastar Amitabh Bachchan has landed in controversy. Smartphone retailers have alleged that the ad misleads the audience into believing that online platforms are offering better deals this festive season, reported Economic Times.
In the Hindi advertisement, Bachchan can be heard saying that the kind of deals Flipkart is offering on mobiles this season, will not be available at retail stores.
The All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) has reacted to the promotional campaign and has written to all leading smartphone brands to highlight the matter.
It has also asked the brand heads to "issue either a joint or individual statement in prominent news media outlets, publicly clarifying that these statements are not accurate."
"Our purpose in addressing you is to express our deep concern and disappointment regarding the recent wave of derogatory advertisements that have been proliferating across various online platforms, social media, and print media. These advertisements have been influencing the buying behaviour of customers through false and misleading statements, such as the one promoted by Flipkart with the endorsement of the mega star, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, stating, 'yeh Dukan per nahin milne wala' (This will not be found in stores)," AIMRA said in its letter to smartphone brands.
Flipkart has not responded to the emails sent to them. It has also made the said advertisement private on Youtube.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to Amitabh Bachchan condemning his association with the endorsement.
“We are highly disheartened to witness your recent advertisement for Flipkart, where you claimed that deals and offers are not available at shopkeepers, thereby misleading and influencing customers…,” CAIT said.
As per market experts, e-commerce platforms, in a bid to increase revenues, often undertake deep discounting of products, especially smartphones, undercutting retail competition to offer deals that are hard to ignore by consumers.
Deep discounting has, for quite a long time, been a bone of contention between e-commerce platforms and offline retailers.
The Union government is reportedly working drafting an e-commerce policy which will address the issue of deep discounting.