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After Hrithik Roshan, R. Madhavan bats for WhiteHat Jr as a concerned parent
Madhavan is worried that the skills his kids are learning today won’t be of much use in future.
“… As a father, I have big concerns about the future,” quips actor R. Madhavan. His concerns lie in the fact that what kids learn today may not hold much relevance tomorrow.
However, much to Madhavan’s delight, he’s found that one skill which will be relevant tomorrow is coding. “With Whitehatjr.com, every child in India can learn to code, how to make apps, how to solve real-life problems using technology.”
To emphasise its value, the app shows the following success stories of kids developing apps:
Twelve-year-old Yuvraj Shah from Kolkata created the Medmaze app. India Today says, “It helps people to donate their unused, but not expired medicines, to government hospitals.”
Nine-year-old Manya Singhal from Gurugram created the Pickaboo app. The New Indian Express says, “It helps kids scan real-life objects to hear their names.”
Madhavan is the second actor to endorse WhiteHar Jr after Hrithik Roshan as a concerned parent. In the app’s ad, Roshan too voiced his concern about the relevance of the skills his kids were learning today.
In October (2020), the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), "a self-regulatory voluntary organisation of the advertising industry", asked WhiteHat Jr to pull down its ads. ASCI had processed 15 complaints against seven WhiteHat Jr ads. Five of these ads were in potential violation of the ASCI code… WhiteHat Jr withdrew the ads immediately.
WhiteHat Jr’s journey has seen as many ups and downs as that of a coder when he/she is trying to find a bug in the code. The Byju’s-owned start-up has been accused of creating fear of missing out (FOMO) to push parents to avail its services after seeing its ad. In the ad, suit-clad men (insinuated as investors) battled each other for the opportunity to invest in an app designed by a six-year-old, who learnt coding from WhiteHat Jr.