Recently, a “human ad” for the food delivery startup, Swish, is going viral on social media. Bengaluru-based Swish is a rapid food delivery platform that claims to redefine convenience and speed by delivering food to your doorstep in just 10 minutes. The advertisement post shows some Bengaluru men walking on the street carrying billboards to promote a food delivery app.
The photo shared by an entrepreneur named Roshan has over 1 lakh views on X (formerly Twitter).
The reaction to the "human ad"
In his post, Roshan voiced his displeasure over the advertising approach, sarcastically commenting: "VC: How much funding do you need? Startup: 5 million $ VC: What's your customer acquisition plan? Then: Human ads. VC: Take my money."
Netizens have expressed their disapproval of using humans as a “walking” advertisement for perceived exploitation and lack of dignity.
One user commented, “This ad is in too many places now, and it doesn’t feel good.”
“This one was good. And here we are banging our heads on how to go for profitability. Difficult to fight with market forces,” another user remarked.
“Maybe it’s just me, but human ads make me so sad, they’re walking around with that heavy thing on their backs for god knows how long,” a third user wrote.
Incidentally, another billboard advertisement took over Bengaluru a couple of months back with a 3D billboard advertisement featuring a man pouring a steaming beverage. In the viral video, the man’s body popped out of the billboard serving a glass of filtered coffee.
Also read: Japan's New AI-Powered 'Human Washing Machine' Will Clean & Dry Your Body in 15 Mins Plus Calm the Mind (startuppedia.in)
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