Ola’s ‘8 missed calls from mom’ clickbait for International Women’s Day, draws universal ire

Leading cab hailing app Ola’s push notification on International Women’s Day (March 8) caught the eye of most people, but for all the wrong reasons.

The push notification read, ‘8 missed calls from mom’. It went on to say, “she wanted to tell you that there's 40 per cent off on fruits and veggies at Ola Dash. She also wants you to stop eating bahar ka khana (outside food) so much."

Using the missed call from mom trick to lure people to click and engage with the notification, was panned across social media.

We can’t help but go back to 2020, when leading video streamer SonyLIV’s promotion for its show ‘Undekhi’ involved a phone call to unsuspecting folks. It left them terrified left, right and centre.

In the call, a guy, in a trembling voice, introduces himself as Rishi and reveals that he's captured a murder on his camera and now the murderer wants to kill him too... And then, a voice says, "Undekhi, streaming now on SonyLIV."

Coming back to 2022, e-commerce giant Flipkart drew flak because it offered deals to purchase kitchen appliances, and reinforced the stereotype that women’s primary space is in the kitchen. Fortunately, it had the good sense to apologise.

Fast food giant Burger King UK too committed a similar mistake last year (2021), when it tweeted, “Women belong in the kitchen.” It then tried to explain why it made such a statement in a subsequent thread of tweets.