Boycott Hyundai Trends on Social Media
Hyundai Motor Company, the parent body of Hyundai and Kia in South Korea, on Tuesday, issued an apology stating 'deeply regret for the inconvenience caused'.
Hyundai Motor Company from South Korea is the parent company of Hyundai and Kia. On 5 February Kashmir Solidarity Day, Hyundai Pakistan Official tweeted, “Let us remember the sacrifices of our Kashmiri brothers and stand in support as they continue to struggle for freedom."Kashmir Solidarity Day is a national holiday observed in Pakistan on 5 February annually. It is observed to show Pakistan's support and unity with the people of India-administered Jammu and Kashmir and Kashmiri separatists' efforts to separate from India and to pay homage to the Kashmiris who have died in the conflict. After Hyundai Pakistan’s tweet, 'Boycott Hyundai’ has been trending on Twitter. People in India were very angry with Hyundai for supporting Pakistan. After Hyundai, even Kia had tweeted in support of Pakistan.
After these 2 companies, several multinational companies like Dominos, Pizza Hut, KFC, Toyota, Japanese companies Honda and Suzuki too tweeted in support of Pakistan. Indians were angry at these companies as well. Social media was soon flooded with messages asking people to not buy cars from Hyundai and Kia and boycott KFC, Pizza Hut, Dominos etc who were supporting Pakistan. Many people even cancelled their car bookings and instead booked cars from Indian makers. Hyundai Motor Company, on Tuesday 8th February, issued an apology stating 'deeply regret the inconvenience caused and it is our company policy to not support any political issue, religion, etc. Our aim is to only give quality products and services. All the companies like Hyundai, Toyota, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc have apologized for social media posts by their business associates in Pakistan. However, many people felt that these apologies were not adequate and the boycott trend is still trending. This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Many times companies create advertisements that people do not like and then people start boycotting the brand. Sometimes celebrities say something and people get offended. For example when Aamir Khan said in an interview that his wife feels India is not safe, then people started boycotting Snapdeal as Khan was its brand ambassador.
Similarly, you may remember Tanishq had created an AD of a pregnant Hindu woman but it went viral on social media and people started protesting about it. For the full story, watch this link. During the controversy, Tanishq suffered losses but once the problem ended, its sales went up. In conclusion, when people protest against companies, it does spoil their reputation and affect sales for a short time. But people eventually once the problem is resolved, people will continue buying their products and their business always profits.
