Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
Swiggy attempts to redefine 'Desi masala' for Women's Day
The leading food delivery app's Women's Day campaign is trying to change the search results that come up when you look for 'Desi masala' online.
When you search on Google for 'African masala', you're greeted with images of curry powder and raw spices. When you Google 'Australian masala', you're greeted with images of spices from Down Under. But when you Google 'Desi masala', it's a whole different story.
The search result throws up borderline inappropriate images of Indian women, giving the term 'Desi masala' a whole new, disrespectful meaning. Swiggy's Women's Day campaign is a bid to change that.
The campaign invites users to share pictures of their spice boxes and the foods they make on social media with the caption 'this is Desi masala, not women'. The team is trying to get enough user generated images of 'Desi masala' food to change how the Google algorithm displays search results.
The campaign so far has seen entries on different social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and so on. Delivery services app Dunzo also took notice of the campaign and lauded Swiggy's initiative.
Swiggy took a minute to thank Dunzo for taking notice, responding in puns in its signature social media style. Swiggy's in-house creative team, headed by creative director Shikha Gupta, is responsible for the campaign.
Swiggy's last social media campaign that used a social platform a little differently was 'Voice of Hunger', which was created by Dentsu Webchutney.
On the Swiggy website, the statistics about the campaign mention that it generated 16 million-plus social impressions and over 150,000 voice notes. During that time, Swiggy witnessed a 40 per cent rise in Instagram followers, resulting in over 40,000 new 18-35 year olds joining its Instagram communities.
Swiggy’s Instagram reach went up by 7,700 per cent. The app also amassed a 2,100 per cent spike in traffic to its platform from Instagram and a totally unintentional 24 per cent average increase in food orders resembling its most popular voice note creations. The nature of the campaign resulted in 1,165 per cent growth in brand interactions. The campaign crossed borders, receiving entries from Italy, Japan, Thailand and Canada – countries Swiggy doesn’t even deliver to.