Zomato defends Hrithik Roshan ad, says aimed to make delivery agents 'the hero'

After days of receiving negative feedback on social media, food ordering and delivery platform Zomato has finally responded to the company's latest advertisements featuring Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif.

The company has released a statement where they have defended the latest ads and also addressed some of the issues that viewers had with them.

“We believe that our ads are well-intentioned, but were unfortunately misinterpreted by some people," the statement by Zomato reads. Responding to criticism, the delivering platform asserted that the ads were conceptualised six months ago even before “any social media chatter around gig worker payouts or working conditions” came up.

Further, in its statement, Zomato asserted the main focus of these advertisements was to make delivery partners the hero of the ads. They also wanted to highlight that common people should talk respectfully to delivery partners and raise the level of dignity associated with them. Finally, they wanted to showcase that every customer is a star for its company.

Check out the statement below:

Days ago, Zomato released two ads on a similar idea; one where Katrina Kaif asks the Zomato delivery partner to wait for a few minutes for a piece of her birthday cake. As she goes to get it for him, the delivery partner’s phone pings with a notification for another food order that needs to be delivered. Following this, he leaves the place.

The second ad also comes with a similar concept, where a Zomato delivery partner is shocked to know that he came to deliver an order and sees Hrithik Roshan face to face. As the Krrish actor asks him to wait for a selfie, the delivery partner's phone rings for another order to be delivered. Following this, the delivery partner happily forgoes his chance for a selfie with Roshan.

Ever since these ads have been released on social media, they were slammed and criticized for being tone-deaf after unfair treatment of gig workers have come under scrutiny.