Ola's '8 missed calls from mom' marketing gimmick infuriates Twitter; 'terrible clickbait'

Companies use various means to promote their products and services. And in the age of social media and baits, promotions have now gone to a whole new level. On Wednesday, Ola, one of the successful startups in India, happened to promote one of its services, which enraged its customers.

In a decision that has been extensively criticised on social media, cab aggregator company, Ola, shared a notification reading "8 missed calls from mom" with several of their customers to offer a 40 per cent discount on certain services. However, the marketing gimmick used by the company to promote its service did not go down well. Whereas a single missed call from one's mother can cause worry, Ola's message caused anxiety until customers realised it was just a marketing tactic to get a 40% discount on specific services.

Ola's marketing stunt draws Twitter's ire

People shared screenshots on their social media accounts and called this gimmick distasteful. One of the Twitter users shared the screenshot and captioned it, "Olacabs why are you trying to give me a heart attack???!! 8 missed calls from mom??!!!"

Another user called this marketing style, "a terrible bait."

Ola's marketing experiment, according to many others on the microblogging platform, did nothing but generate worry. 

Some users from other social media platforms also reacted to Ola's objectionable marketing. One of the LinkedIn users, Kartik Bhatia  Chief Operating Officer of Sharaf Retail, slammed the marketing stunt of the company and said, "A banner notification with 5-20 missed calls from MOM would flash on the mobile - setting a panic - followed by a silly 40% off on their services. Imagine the impact of such an advert on people like me who recently lost their mothers/ or people who live away from their ailing mothers …. The advert is a bait tactic - but strikes a poor chord and leaves a very bitter aftertaste."

Ola's anxiety-inducing notification was also shared on Reddit, where it received over 24,000 'upvotes.' Many people urged Ola to be more sensitive in future ad campaigns in the comments section. One of the users on Reddit said, "Imagine sending this notification to someone whose mom recently died or went missing. Terrible company." While another one said, "This is highly upsetting."

Ola's marketing gaffe comes only one day after e-commerce giant Flipkart was chastised for its Women's Day campaign. Flipkart put out a message on International Women's Day promoting kitchen appliances, which many on social media condemned as sexist.