 "How an advertisement featuring Amitabh Bachchan landed Flipkart in trouble")
Smartphone retailers have called out an advertisement by Flipkart featuring Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, which they allege misleads buyers into believing that online platforms offer better deals this festive season, reported The Economic Times (ET).
In a Hindi advertisement by Flipkart, aired to promote 'The Big Billion Days', Amitabh Bachchan could be heard saying that the kind of mobile deals Flipkart is offering will not be available at retail outlets.
Reacting to the advertisement, the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), which represents 150,000 mobile retailers, has written to leading smartphone brands to highlight the issue.
They have 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.
Earlier, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also wrote to Bachchan, stating that his recent ad for Flipkart spreads misinformation and hurts local businesses.
"We are highly disheartened to witness your recent advertisement for Flipkart, where you claimed that deals and offers are not available at shopkeepers, thereby misguiding and influencing the consumers, which we strongly condemn and seek an explanation as to on what grounds you said such words in the advertisement in question," said the traders association in its letter to the actor.
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"We humbly request you refrain from being biased or diverting customers towards online platforms with misleading statements or advertising for monetary gains," it said.
Meanwhile, Flipkart has now made the ad private on YouTube.
The Big Billion Days sale on Flipkart is set to start on October 8 and run until October 15. With festival sales becoming one of the major battlegrounds for all ecommerce platforms, Amazon was also seen shifting the date of its Great Indian Festival sale to October 8 from October 10, earlier.