Tinder turns sanskari in new ad, Bharat Mata got dating tips
Just when you think all's well with the world - Modi's academic degrees ruckus has more or less been clarified, Odd-Even (in Delhi) shows no signs of return after its gigantic failure second time around and SRK's next release Raees has been shifted to next year giving the makers and the star ample time to think things through after Fan certainly didn't cool off any heat in the theatres - trust something to come up and remind you why life isn't all that fair. And when that certain something happens to be an otherwise harmless and pleasurable object, or in this case a smart phone application, life hits you hard.
It's not even been a week since Mother's Day celebrations on the internet got over - the annual "I-love-my-mom-enough-to-click-a-selfie-with-her" day - and there's a whole new "cool" mom trending online.
Now, if I told you that this certain mom is basking in the limelight thanks to Tinder, your mind will obviously go on the rather obvious track. But hold onto your horses all you Tinder-swapping men and women for this mom ain't like anything you've ever seen.
She's Indian yet speaks only English (that might be a first for Indian advertising), knows what Tinder is all about and wants her daughter to apply kaajal before she heads out for her date coz "kaajal has its own charm". Yes, I'm talking about Tinder's latest advertisement that's been made to let us know that the app is "how people meet".
The girl is getting ready to head out for a Tinder date and when her mother walks in the room, while she's checking out her reflection in the mirror, she casually mentions that she's stepping out nearby to check out a theatre festival.
The mother asks the routine questions - who's she going out with and when would she be back. But it isn't till she spots a Tinder alert on her daughter's phone that the sanskari and new-age Bharat Mata pops out.
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| Welcome to a naive Tinder. |
The daughter asks for a suggestion on her look and the mother asks her to put on kaajal and gives her girl a "right swipe". The commercial ends with the brand's latest tagline. And all this while you and I thought that's how people meet!
The problem here isn't actually the mother - hell, I'd love to have a mother like that and who wouldn't really? - but the fact that of all things around, Tinder is going the sanskari way. It's a dating app that's primarily used for one purpose, a fact well accepted by everyone on it.
Yes, there might be the few odd couples who met on Tinder and ended up in holy matrimony but they are few and far in between. We swipe left or right basis someone's looks and it's generally done on a Saturday night after tequila shots at the bar.
It isn't a crime so why do we have to be apologetic about it? Why can't we leave Tinder at just that? You and I aren't "meeting" people via Tinder and having real conversations. We're just having casual sex - it's convenient and consensual and no one's complaining.
What's with the company then trying to make it seem like we're on Shaadi.com and after weeks, or months of chatting, it's time the boy and girl met in person to see if things are headed somewhere?
Is Tinder naive enough to believe that in a country such as ours where parents are yet to freely talk about sex, schools are yet to include sex education in the curriculum, where women are raped and molested every day, couples holding hands in parks or malls get the stares and merely uttering the word "sex" in public gets gasps louder than one can imagine, there can actually be mothers who won't mind their daughters stepping out for a date with a random boy she's met online? I'd love it if it was true but unfortunately, it isn't.
And if this is the brand's idea to seep into Indian advertising without offending anyone anywhere, guess what, they've certainly offended the Tinder loyalists. I'm so offended right now Tinder that if you were a profile, I'd certainly not swipe right.