Anti-Aamir Khan camp started a campaign named #Appwapsi and #NoToSnapdeal
By Sreekanth A Nair
Indian e-commerce giant Snapdeal has been facing trouble since Aamir Khan’s ‘intolerance’ remarks. People have started a campaign with hashtags #Appwapsi and #NoToSnapdeal on social media against the brands Khan is currently endorsing and Snapdeal has taken a direct hit.
Thousands of people across the country tweeted that they would stop purchasing from Snapdeal until it removes Khan as its brand ambassador.
Campaigners gave one-star rating to Snapdeal Android app on Google Play Store, lowering its rating on the Play Store.
Furthermore, many people used the review space to express their dissatisfaction over Khan’s statement and urged the company to remove him as its brand ambassador.
People also shared the screenshots of them uninstalling the Snapdeal app from their mobile phones.
Though the campaign grew viral, it is not clear how it affected the company’s business. At the same time, Snapdeal authorities haven’t made any comment on the issue so far.
It all started after Khan said on Monday, “For the last six to eight months, there has been a growing despondency I would say. Kiran (wife Kiran Rao) and I have lived all our life in India. When I sit at home and talk to Kiran, for the first time she said, ‘Should we move out of India?’ Now that’s a very disastrous and a big comment to make to me”.
Meanwhile, Sachin Bansal, CEO of Flipkart, a rival e-commerce company, came in support of Snapdeal and tweeted, “This is a flawed logic. Brands don’t buy into brand ambassador’s personal opinions. @snapdeal shouldn’t face this.”
Speaking about dealing with the situation, Santosh Desai, brand expert and MD & CEO of Futurebrands India told Times of India, “This time, the pitch is higher. But celebrities routinely have been in trouble. Take SRK, for instance, with My Name is Khan. However, unless it blows out disproportionately, reactions such as these on social media are usually temporary blips. Snapdeal should lay low and not react apart from perhaps making corporate-sounding statements such as, ‘We %are watching the situation….’, but even after two weeks, if the situation refuses to blow over, they may have to think about something”.
Meanwhile, Godrej tweeted saying, “Aamir Khan’s contract with Godrej ended in March 2014. The said current views are his personal & in no way connected to us.”
Godrej had Khan as its brand ambassador from 2013 to 2014.