Marketing Moments

Tanmay Bhat's old Ganesha tweets zap Kotak Mahindra Bank's new campaign

Netizens dug out tweets by Bhat from 2013 where he joked about Hindu gods, forcing the company to pull down its latest campaign featuring the comedian

by Team PITCH
February 13, 2023

Tanmay Bhat's old Ganesha tweets zap Kotak Mahindra Bank's new campaign

Recently, Kotak811, a semi-autonomous digital bank by Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, launched an ad starring comedians Tanmay Bhat and Samay Raina. The #SamayKoSahiKaamPeLagao campaign highlighted how Kotak811 lets you put your time (or "Samay") to good use by using some clever puns and the comic timings of Bhat and Raina.

Shortly after it was launched, Kotak scrambled to pull down the campaign and erase the video from the internet. While there was nothing contentious about the ad, it was Bhat's tweets from the past that came back to haunt the brand. Netizens dug out old tweets by the comedian from 2013 where he joked about Lord Ganesha.

The company found itself in the crosshairs of irate netizens, asking why they associated themselves with Bhat, who was "spreading hatred for Hindu Gods." They even demanded that Kotak pull down the ad.

The bank was very vocal about its stand and even started replying to some of the tweets, but it eventually had to submit to the angry mob and pulled down the campaign.

The company tweeted saying that it doesn't endorse the hatred:

Soon, there were calls to boycott the bank.

Digital footprints like Bhat's old tweets are evidence of the past. With the evolving technology, it has become immensely easy to trace anything even if it has been deleted. It will soon become imperative for brands to scrutinize the people they associate with and look up any past brushes with the Twitter mobs in order to prevent the possibility of a boycott.