Food-delivery platform Swiggy on Wednesday took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out a fake ad circulating on social media platforms. The viral ad took a sly dig at Zomato's recent 'Pure Veg Fleet'.
"We came across a fake ad this morning regarding a recent controversy. If it isn't already obvious, this is NOT an ad by Swiggy. It was neither created by us, nor anybody affiliated with Swiggy. Kindly refrain from circulating or attributing it to Swiggy, Thank You." the company said in a statement.
March 20, 2024All About the Swiggy 'Fake Ad'
Though Swiggy did not specify the fake ad in question, netizens were quick to point out the image which could have led to the company issuing a prompt clarification.
The ad that was posted on X by Nilesh Trivedi, Co-founder & CTO of Snow Moutain AI, had the Swiggy logo on top and was titled "Eviction-safe food delivery".
It had the following message: "In Indian neighbourhoods, your dietary preferences are best kept private. Our delivery fleet doesn't leak your private habits to the world. You also save some money as we don't have to pay for the life insurance of our delivery staff against possible mob lynchings."
Nilesh posted this image along with the caption - New #swiggy ad hits hard. /s
New #swiggy ad hits hard.
March 20, 2024
/s pic.twitter.com/BBSkASiHuiNilesh quickly clarified that the '/s' in his post stands for sarcasm, which he might have thought was enough for people to understand that it was not an official ad but a sarcastic take on the controversy.
Many users on X replied to his post stating that only a small percentage of people would be aware of what '/s' stands for which led to them believing it is a genuine ad by Swiggy. Another user also stated that the same image was recirculated on WhatsApp groups where again the meaning of '/s' was not understood, making it look far more real and controversial. Here are some replies on X.
It's cryptic. A vanishingly small percentage of people know what “/s” means - you should be more explicit
March 20, 2024I shared what is doing round in other groups. Not what you shared in Creative Folks. Also FYI, even in that group, people didn't get the sarcasm.
March 20, 2024Considering the magnitude at which the fake ad became viral, the Co-Founder of Snow Mountain AI clarified and accepted his mistake stating that this was not an ad by Swiggy but a satirical take on Zomato's new service.
This image is not an authentic ad by Swiggy. It is sarcasm/satire/parody. I thought I had dropped sufficient clues:
March 20, 2024
- "/s"
- Snarky language
- Bad graphic design
- AI-generated art
- Corporations taking a stand with an apparent spine
But it seems like this was still widely…After Swiggy issued the clarification, he retweeted the post saying "Looks like many people circulated the image while cropping out my "/s" sarcasm tag."
Looks like many people circulated the image while cropping out my "/s" sarcasm tag. 🤦♂️🙄 https://t.co/8wU7IGKZdo
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