Aamir Khan controversy brings India’s biggest ecommerce rivals together

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan. Photo credit: Gordon Correll

Flipkart and Snapdeal are undoubtedly India’s biggest ecommerce rivals.

Flipkart with a valuation of over US$15 billion and Snapdeal with a valuation of US$5 billion have been bitter competitors on and off the field. Snapdeal co-founder Kunal Bahl and Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal have exchanged pot shots over Twitter many a time.

But the recent political controversy, which was triggered by Snapdeal’s brand ambassador Aamir Khan has brought together the Federer-Nadal of India’s ecommerce industry. Sachin came forward in solidarity with Kunal as Snapdeal was facing customer backlash after actor Aamir Khan spoke about his wife’s concerns over growing violence and intolerance in some parts of India.

At a journalism awards event, Aamir reportedly said:

When I sit at home and talk to Kiran [his wife], Kiran and I have lived all our lives in India. For the first time, she said, should we move out of India? That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make to me. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is a sense of growing disquiet… growing sense of despondency. You feel depressed, you feel low… why is it happening? This feeling exists in me too.

These remarks prompted a number of people to protest online. Many Indians flocked to Facebook, Twitter, and even the Google Play Store with comments against Snapdeal and Aamir. Media reports claim that the Snapdeal app has been uninstalled by thousands of Indian consumers as a form of boycott, though there is no official data from the company yet. Hundreds of consumers gave Snapdeal’s app a one-star rating on Google Play. More than 33,000 tweets were trending with the hashtag #bootoutsnapdeal in the country.

Seeing the fierce reactions online, Snapdeal stepped into fire-fighting mode. The company issued a statement: “Snapdeal is neither connected nor plays a role in comments made by Aamir Khan in his personal capacity. Snapdeal is a proud Indian company built by passionate young Indians focused on building an inclusive digital India. Every day we are positively impacting thousands of small businesses and millions of consumers in India. We will continue towards our mission of creating one million successful online entrepreneurs in India.”

But the backlash continued on social media.

That is when Flipkart’s Sachin tweeted:

This is a flawed logic. Brands don't buy into brand ambassadors personal opinions. @snapdeal shouldn't face this https://t.co/Y1sPvnXQgs

— Sachin Bansal (@_sachinbansal) November 25, 2015

Present tense, past imperfect

A controversy rages on…

#SnapdealForIndia