Flipkart Faces Backlash Over Obituary-Style Freedom Sale Ad; Shobhaa De Calls It 'Insensitive & Disgusting'

Flipkart is facing criticism on social media over a print advertisement for its Freedom Sale that used the visual format of obituary notices, featuring photographs and personal details of living individuals placed inside memorial-style boxes.

The advertisement carried the line 'We aren't sad at all; above the memorial-style boxes, followed by copy stating that while the people featured would continue to live, Flipkart's deals were about to disappear as the sale neared its final day. It is unclear whether the individuals featured in the advertisement are real, and several social media users questioned whether the images were generated or assisted by artificial intelligence. Flipkart has not publicly addressed the backlash or clarified which newspaper editions carried the advertisement.

Shobhaa De leads criticism, calls for boycott

Author and columnist Shobhaa De criticised the campaign on X and urged consumers to boycott Flipkart. "The most self-serving, disgusting and insensitive ad! How dare you @Flipkart. Shame on you!! Hope your 'sale' flops and consumers boycott you," she wrote.

Mixed reactions online

The campaign drew a range of responses on social media. One user wrote that "the whole creative team/agency deserves to be sacked" and that those who approved the advertisement "need to go, too." Another said, "We should leave normal people with dignity in death. This ad is insensitive and inhuman."

Not all reactions were critical. One user argued that the advertisement 'grabs attention' and questioned who exactly it was insensitive to, given that the images were AI-generated. Another user pushed back, arguing that even with AI-generated images, using death as a premise to market a sale remained 'regressive and flawed'.

This is not the first time a Flipkart marketing campaign has run into criticism. Ahead of its Republic Day Sale in January, the company released a campaign called 'Chaanta Classes' featuring former cricketer Harbhajan Singh as an instructor teaching people how to slap malfunctioning appliances, a reference widely read as an allusion to the 2008 IPL incident in which Harbhajan slapped fellow cricketer Sreesanth on the field. Sreesanth later objected to the campaign, saying Harbhajan had profited commercially off their past conflict.