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The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has filed a complaint with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs against Flipkart and Amitabh Bachchan for an ad on the upcoming Big Billion Days sale. The traders organisation also expressed their “deep disappointment” in Amitabh Bachchan who, they said, openly endorsed the e-commerce giant’s “misleading and frivolous claim that deals and discounts on mobile phones are not available in offline stores and are only available on Flipkart”.
The organisation said that they are not disappointed with Flipkart because they know that Flipkart – and Amazon – entered India to disrupt the traditional retail industry. CAIT also wrote a letter to Amitabh Bachchan expressing their anguish, informed him about the misleading claims, as well as informed him that the ad has not gone down well with India’s retailers.
Shri @SrBachchan ji,
STOP HURTING SMALL BUSINESSES!
You are the greatest showman of Bharat, which also means you have tremendous responsibility towards the nation and the citizens. In this advertisement for Flipkart you are demeaning the retailers of our nation by making… pic.twitter.com/wtHQkuw8M2
CAIT asked the ministry to not only take down the ad, but also to impose penalties of Rs 10 lakh each on Flipkart and Bachchan.
Flipkart indulged in unfair trade practices through the ad, the organisation stated. “As you may be aware, misleading advertisements are not just unethical but also distort competition and manipulate consumer choice. This advertisement by Amitabh is unethical because it is false, distorts competition by tilting the competition in favour of Flipkart by misinforming them and manipulates consumer choice by foreclosing their options to reach out to physical retailers to buy mobile phones among other things,” it said.
CAIT said that Flipkart misled the public regarding the price at which mobile phones are available in the smartphone market. The ad “doesn’t contain truthful and honest representation and is wholly incorrect, malicious, misleading and manipulative”.
It asked the ministry to pass directions to Flipkart to suspend the advertisement, penalise Flipkart with imprisonment for a term or 2 years and Rs 10 lakh fine, and penalise Amitabh Bachchan with a fine of Rs 10 lakh.
The Big Billion Days sale starts on October 8 and will end on October 15.
Also read: Flipkart Big Billion Days, Amazon Great Indian Festival offers: Apple iPhones starting at Rs 32,999; check deals
Also read: Flipkart Big Billion Days sale to start on October 8: Check deals on Google, Oppo, Samsung smartphones
Copyright©2023 Living Media India Limited. For reprint rights: Syndications Today
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