Snapdeal is facing
flak on Social Media these days after a controversial remark made by its brand ambassador Aamir Khan on growing
intolerance in India. Mr. Khan said that his family contemplated leaving India. And the unlikely victim of this whole
saga has been Snapdeal. The e-commerce giant is bearing the brunt of
people’s anger in the form of App
wapsi & ratings downgrade. People vented
their anger by boycotting Snapdeal
,deleting its app & writing unfavourable reviews leading to its downgrade
on Google Play Store. Here is a tweet by Suresh Nakhua
Hashtags like
#BootOutSnapdeal & #Appwapsi became the top
trends on twitter. The message was loud & clear - Hit the ecosystem
where it hurts the most.
And
certainly it hurt them as many ‘Thought Liberals’ jumped in to placate the
common man hurt by Aamir Khan’s remark. Some tried to douse the fire by trying
to delink Snapdeal from Khan’s comment. As Snapdeal started facing consumer backlash, many even questioned the
legitimacy of this protest. Quite evident from this tweet by Bdutt
Soon they were shown
the mirror by being reminded about the Gandhian philosophy of “Non-cooperation”
& economic boycott as a legitimate
& democratic way of protest.
In the process, tweeples also exposed the hypocrisy of such
“thought liberals”.
So has Social Media got a new tool to fight against biased MSM & 'thought liberals' ?
Much to the disappointment of many people, the answer is Yes.The Social Media is certainly responsible for amplifying the backlash which Snapdeal is facing.And it was only possible due to breathtaking power & speed of Social media because today everyone with a cellphone is essentially a reporter.
So is it Good or Bad ?
Well in my opinion it depends on the cause for which it is used.
According to an article by Wharton : " Social media outrage, it seems, is a beast
with the fangs of a rattlesnake, and the attention span of a gnat."
Well Social Media is here to shape the socio-political envirnoment & this outrage is completely justified.
