Zomato's ad featured actor Aditya Lakhia who portrayed the character of 'Kachra' in the movie Lagaan.
Food delivery platform Zomato has been served a notice by the National Commission For Scheduled Castes over the portrayal of a Dalit character in one of its ad campaigns. Zomato's ad for World Environment Day featured actor Aditya Lakhia who portrayed the character of 'Kachra' in the 2001 movie 'Lagaan'. The advert draws a link between the character Kachra with 'kachra', the Hindi word for garbage, and was aired on World Environment Day on June 5.
After backlash on social media, the company took down the video, saying it had "unintentionally" hurt certain communities.
"Unintentionally, we may have hurt the sentiments of certain communities and individuals. We have taken down the video," the company said.
But the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has said that it will investigate the matter and also issued a notice to Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal.
"In case the commission does not receive reply from you within stipulated time, the commission may issue summons for your appearance in person," the notice to Zomato founder read.
In the nearly two-minute ad, actor Aditya Lakhia is depicted as a lamp, paper, paperweight, watering can, and different types of jackets -- the accompanying text detailing how much recycled 'kachra' was used to make each item.
In the film 'Lagaan', the character of Kachra is shown to be disabled and shunned by fellow villagers until he is picked up to play for the team. He ends up playing a pivotal role in leading his team to a surprising victory.
The character's inclusion in the ad campaign aimed to highlight the importance of wasting food and draw attention to the challenges faced by marginalised communities in society.
Instead of resonating with the audience, the campaign faced backlash on social media, with users terming it tone-deaf.
The food delivery company has found itself on the wrong side of marketing in the past as well.
In 2017, an outdoor ad campaign in major cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru showed Hindi expletives "MC, BC" as abbreviations for mac n' cheese and butter chicken.
In 2022, Zomato pulled down an advertisement featuring actor Hrithik Roshan who was shown to be craving for a “thali” (food platter) in Ujjain so he ordered it from “Mahakal”.
Priests of the famous Mahakaleshwar temple in Madhya Pradesh objected, claiming that it offended Hindu sentiments and demanded its withdrawal. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra had issued directives to the police to look into the controversy.
The company later apologised clarifying that the “Mahakal” reference was for a restaurant and not the temple.