#BoycottHyundai: When Sushma Swaraj made Amazon apologize for insulting Tricolour

The #Boycott Hyundai has garnered lots of attention for very "wrong reasons". Hyundai, known for making cars got involved in a mess that could have been avoided easily. As Pakistan observes February 5 as "Kashmir Solidarity Day", Hyundai Pakistan took to its social media site and wrote, "Let us remember the sacrifices of our Kashmiri brothers and stand in support as they continue to struggle for freedom," with a picture of a boat in Dal lake and the word ‘Kashmir’ juxtaposed with a barbed wire.

 

Hyundai is not the only one to do this. General Motors, Suzuki, Honda, Kia, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. in Pakistan have all put out Kashmir Day propaganda in the past, and this has all gone under the radar in India. A similar controversy erupted in 2017 when the Indian national flag was disrespected and insulted on a global platform.

 

 

 

In 2017, Amazon found itself in the middle of a controversy when customers took to Twitter complaining about the selling of tricolour as a doormat on its Canadian marketplace. One user tagging the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj complained that the E-commerce giant is selling the Indian flag as a doormat. He tweeted, "@SushmaSwaraj Madam. Amazon Canada must be censured and warned not to sell India flag doormats. Please take action."

 

Sushma, who was much admired by Tweeple for her quick and helpful responses, took up this sensitive matter and issued a warning to Amazon to apologize for the same and also to remove the product from their website else the company would face consequences. Unless this is done, Amazon officials will not be given visas, she said in a series of tweets.

 

 

 

The stalwart also asked the Indian Embassy to take up the matter with Amazon Canada. Swaraj's tweets went viral and led to an outrage on social media by Indians and people of Indian origin. "Her tweetstorm escalated the protest into a possible diplomatic spat," The Washington Post had said at that time. Soon after this, Amazon Canada removed the offensive doormat from its website.

 

Now, with Hyundai doing such gimmicks on the international level, it has lost all the enormous goodwill it had built over decades.