Social Media has become a popular platform for brands to make their advertising go viral and reach the target audience. Some times, these platforms also act as opposition for brands if the ads talk about a sensitive issue. Something similar happened recently after Hindustan Unilever’s Kumbh Mela ad was slammed for showing that Indians who are abandoned from homes visit Kumbh.
After a few days, HUL’s Surf Excel also got involved in a controversy for a video ad that was launched for Holi festival. For those who don’t know, the advertisement features two kids, a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy showing how the little girl protects her friend’s white kurta from Holi colors so that he reaches the mosque to offer namaaz, who actually even promised to join the Holi celebration soon after. You can watch the complete ad below:
Since then the brand has got mixed reactions online. Even #BoycottSurfExcel was trending on Twitter. Another situation that is rising after this issue is that Indians are slamming Microsoft Excel mistakenly for Surf Excel.
1.
This beautiful Ad has angered Sanghis and they want to Boycott #SurfExcel. There are some things Surf Excel cant clean. The Filthy Mind of Indian RW is one of them pic.twitter.com/XLAijY3OSE
— Joy (@Joydas) March 10, 2019
2.
Bhakts giving bad to reviews to Microsoft Excel bcz it ends with Excel.#Surf_Excel #SurfExcel #Surf_Excel_India pic.twitter.com/hQVBtvLiBk
— ರಿಯಾಜ್ ಅಹ್ಮದ್ Riyaz Ahmed (@RiazJS) March 11, 2019
3.
When you are confused between #SurfExcel and Microsoft Excel, shit happens. pic.twitter.com/vxJaVfLzcw
— Aparna (@chhuti_is) March 11, 2019
4.
https://twitter.com/tanvi_07_/status/1105121779872194560
5.
Another one 😁 pic.twitter.com/RhGJMw43WN
— Maswood Zafar (@MaswoodZ) March 11, 2019
This is not the first time that something like this has happened in India. People were seen with the same confusion between Snapdeal and Snapchat earlier. This also shows that we are far too quick to judge anything and following a trend just because it is going viral.
