Tinder’s new advertisement is terrifying the youth of India!
No . . . it doesn’t feature ‘sanskari’ Alok Nath, but we bet he too would #SwipeLeft Tinder’s new unimaginative advertisement tailor-made for India. The minute-and-a-half long Ekta-Kapoor-style terrifying excuse for an advert was released via Facebook on 7 May and the youth are thrashing it on social media. It features a mother approving her daughter’s look for a Tinder date. Hey! When did Indian parents become this progressive? We weren’t even informed.
The advert shows a young girl grooming in her mirror. Her mother walks into the bedroom and enquires about her plans. The daughter is reluctant to admit that she is headed on a Tinder date. But the ‘super cool’ mother not only knows what Tinder is but also ‘right swipes’ her look for the date. Wait . . . that’s not it. There’s the typical ‘mother’s one-line advice’ that wraps up the disaster: And wear kajal. It has it’s own charm.
On Facebook, Tinder says its app “is how everyone today meets new, like-minded people around them – people who become friends, lovers, mentors, acquaintances, partners, movie-buddies or soulmates”. Well, not exactly.
The very presence of the mother in the advertisement has freaked the youth out. Their reaction to the awkward, forced inclusion of a parent as if to say that ‘if not a matrimonial site, Tinder is all right’ sums up that Tinder is trying to shed its image of being an application used predominantly for casual sex or hook ups. Here’s the deal—according to reports, India is currently the largest market in Asia for Tinder. So, why mess with the balance and why bring parents in to worry the youth who use the application discreetly? Let sleeping dogs lie!
Tinder’s approach to the advert was clarified by the head of Tinder India Taru Kapoor when she said, “Like every generation, the youth today have adopted strong Indian values while at the same time creating new norms and rejecting the ones that do not fit anymore in a shifting world order. The video is a depiction of this changing dynamic. A mother catching a glimpse of her daughter’s Tinder notification is reflective of the future of dating in India, where youth and parents are open and honest about dating.”
The ‘progressive’ advert proves that the brand’s impression of Indian psychology is all wrong. It doesn’t reflect the reality in most Indian homes where, let alone dating, even stepping out to meet a male friend can sometimes be burdened with interrogation. In a country where women are expected to marry in their 20s and have babies soon after, parents aren’t ready for Tinder. They never will be.
We’d like to ‘report’ Tinder’s advertisement back to Tinder, please!
Watch the video:
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