Creativity is something that comes from within and when you see something witty, your turn back and look at it and smile to yourself. Have you ever come across advertisements that grabbed your attention as they had some humor or “desi puns” in it?! Well, Zomato the famous restaurant delivery service has recently launched an outdoor ad campaign and has put up billboards advertising their firm with wit, humor and puns and I must say that they are quite cheeky!
I must say that these ads are really creative and hilarious as well and they have gone viral on social media and while many of them have appreciated the effort and humor the innovators have put in it, but still there are few twitterati’s who disapprove of the Zomato ad campaigns and have mocked them for making such hideous billboards!
People across New Delhi and Mumbai are coming across these amazing Bollywood Puns, hilarious rhymes and Pop Culture references that the creators of the ad have taken creativity to another level.
Hey guys, we at @Zomato (me mostly, I'm a great team player) have been working on some outdoor ads. If you spot one in your city, please share a picture with us (me). Thanks! 😇 ☺️ pic.twitter.com/sxl5qYpAuk
— Akshar Pathak (@AksharPathak) November 29, 2017
Few people have not liked this ad and hence have demanded for the removal of the ad campaign and have also termed it as “shameful.” Apparently, famous author and commentator Suhel Seth has called the Zomato ad “ shameful” and he also says that the investors should be sickened by this kind of behavior. Not only that, he also tagged the Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani as well as the Advertising Standards Council of India in the tweet.
In his post he captioned, “ Shame on you @ZomatoIN ! Absolutely shameful what you’ve attempted to do. Your investors should be sickened by your behaviour! @smritiirani: this is outrageous. @ascionline.
Shame on you @ZomatoIN ! Absolutely shameful what you’ve attempted to do. Your investors should be sickened by your behaviour! @smritiirani : this is outrageous. @ascionline pic.twitter.com/pSChhHSrxo
— SUHEL SETH (@Suhelseth) November 30, 2017
Immediately after the post co-founder of Zomato Pankaj Chaddah apologized to the twitter user and said that the company will bring down the ad and make sure it isnt there. His tweet read, “ Hey, while we didn’t mean to, we can see why it can be offensive to people, and we apologize for it.
We will take this ad down with immediate effect. cc @AksharPathak @prao24.”
Hey, while we didn't mean to, we can see why it can be offensive to people, and we apologize for it.
We will take this ad down with immediate effect. cc @AksharPathak @prao24— Pankaj Chaddah (@pankajchaddah) November 30, 2017
Now, there are a number of billboard ads that Zomato has come up with and the ones that people are finding issues with is the killer pun on “MC and BC” ads which are the acronyms for Hindi Profanities and the company had used this to label it as “ Mac n Cheese” and “Butter Chicken”. While, people loved this cheeky humor, few of them were offended by this ad and the twitter is literally debating over this ad!
There is a war going on in twitter with regard to this ad.
Some are against the Zomato Ad Campaign totally!
When you hire BJP IT Cell members in your marketing team@Zomato, any more stupid ideas? pic.twitter.com/0zfkijkzhn
— Rishabh Sachdeva (@RSach9) November 30, 2017
@deepigoyal @AksharPathak is this how you promote @ZomatoIN @Zomato .. there is nothing creative about it .. rather a new low in terms of lingo @vijivenkatesh pic.twitter.com/stHviEhEZs
— Shekhar Vijayan 🇮🇳 (@shevititan) November 30, 2017
So the PR bandwagon of Zomato's new outdoor campaign is rolling.
Expectedly, it ignores the outrage against its MC BC creative.
And we wonder about why sexism is alive and kicking. So much for apparently being a category *leader*. pic.twitter.com/XlGsLBsVOT
— Ashok Lalla (@ashoklalla) November 30, 2017
While some are defending and finding it humorous!
Hee Hee. Cute ad @Zomato. Pretty much my kinda thinkin pic.twitter.com/qoO7IJ7mc3
— Isha (@ishabhansali_) November 28, 2017
Outdoor advertising done right. Kudos @Zomato take a bow pic.twitter.com/4nuJ5J74fO
— Vishal Sukheja (@vishalsukheja) November 29, 2017
When you hire a delhi guy as Creative head . 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/onDLkSj5qt
— Anu Sehgal 🇮🇳 (@anusehgal) November 29, 2017
This is some brilliant outdoor advertising by @ZomatoIN. pic.twitter.com/LGCgBFHeQB
— Abhishek Mudgal (@AbhishekMudgal_) November 28, 2017
This add is brilliant. Very creative and humorous. #FreedomOfExpression please don’t take it down.
— Manish Vyas (@whathehelll) November 30, 2017
#RGB in Mumbai billboards today. Also featuring @Zomato’s bold move at trying to get the #Millennial attention via an interesting copy. pic.twitter.com/lKLjtSg7Wv
— Siddhaarth Aalambayan (@storytellerInd) November 28, 2017
Zomato is killing it with their hoardings. Neat 👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/WTYfw4DJkS
— Jayesh Ughade (@jayeshughade) November 28, 2017
What’s your opinion about these ad campaigns that are “pun intended.” check em’ out here.