A Café In Pakistan Used A Scene From The Film To Promote Their Offer, Faces Backlash ( Photo Credit – Instagram )
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Gangubai Kathiawadi emerged as one of the successful Bollywood films of the year. Apart from grand sets and music, it was Alia Bhatt who received a lot of appreciation, not just from the country but even international audiences too loved her performance. Meanwhile, a café in Pakistan used a scene from the film to promote their offer. However, their marketing irked netizens and they started calling out the restaurant for their ‘cheap’ & ‘pathetic’ marketing.
For the unversed, the movie which is directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali is about a young Ganga who is tricked by her boyfriend with the promise of a film career and convinces her to leave her home to become a star in Mumbai. However, her dreams of becoming an actress come crashing down as she is lured into prostitution.
Meanwhile, a café named Swing in Karachi, Pakistan used a scene from Gangubai Kathiawadi when Alia Bhatt’s character is forced into prostitution and she’s seen luring men to become her client. Many felt emotional seeing the scene and using it for a marketing strategy, the restaurant attracted a lot of flak.
Sharing the clip from Alia Bhatt starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi on Instagram, the cafe wrote, “Aja na Raja – what are you waiting for? Swings is calling out all the Raja’s out there. Ajao and avail a 25% discount on Men’s Monday at Swings!”
Reacting to their post, a netizen wrote, “What a cheap marketing,” another wrote, “You guys are using such a painful scene for your advertisement???,” a third user wrote, “What a pathetic marketing tactic, definitely time to change your marketing team. Absolutely disgusted,” a fourth user wrote, “Fire your digital marketing team and try to absorb what you’re trying to say,” a fifth commented, “I puked thrice. seriously wtf is wrong with you guys!!!”
Later the cafe even tried defending their marketing strategy and wrote, “We didn’t mean to hurt the sentiments of anyone. The movie and this post is based on a concept.” They even used a different tagline in the post using Alia Bhatt’s character image from Gangubai Kathiawadi and wrote, “Aray logon, itna dil pe kyun le liya? Movie kare tou aag, cafe kare tou paap?”
However, their justification and a different tagline didn’t settle well with the netizens as they again started bashing them for being too insensitive.
Let us in the comments, what do you think about the café using Alia Bhatt’s scene from Gangubai Kathiawadi to promote their offer?
