Bengaluru woman slams Zepto for push notification calling her 'Cutie'

Zepto does it again: Concerning professionalism and women's safety in marketing communications, a Bengaluru lady lashed at Zepto for calling her "cutie" in a promotional message

A woman in Bengaluru received a push notification from quick commerce platform, Zepto, calling her “cutie”. She took to social media to publicly criticise the platform, expressing shock and surprise at the bizarre promotional message.

The "inappropriate" tone of the message, which was meant to promote a brand of banana chips, caused outrage and invited further rebuke from the social media users.

The message's addressee, Mahak Verma, expressed her dissatisfaction on X (previously Twitter). "Cutie_mahak, you got the following request from Namaskaram Banana Chips Original Style Salted," the notice said. Verma maintained that such an address to a stranger was inappropriate for a respectable brand. 

Bengaluru woman slams Zepto

Bengaluru woman slams Zepto: About the post 

In a LinkedIn post, Verma stated, "Yesterday, I received a push notification from Zepto, which very conveniently addressed me as 'Cutie_mahak.' It instantly reminded me of all the uncomfortable experiences many teenage girls in India endure". 

She continued her criticism of Zepto by emphasizing the values of professionalism and deference in brand communication, particularly in a time of “startups and laws on women's safety awareness such as POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) regulations.”

Verma also expressed her concerns about the inappropriateness of calling someone "random adverbs," highlighting the fact that respect in daily interactions is the first step towards women's safety. Some of her friends speculated that she could be overreacting when she did a poll on her Instagram over the notification.

Zepto’s history of controversies 

This is not the first time Zepto's messaging has caused criticism. The business recently came under fire for emailing another Bengaluru woman a similar uninvited notification. The message read, “I miss you, Pallavi. Says i-Pill emergency contraceptive pill,” accompanied by three teary-eyed emoticons, and left customer Pallavi Pareek shocked and questioning the company’s ethical standards.  

Later, Zepto acknowledged the error and apologised to Pareek on LinkedIn, writing, "Hey Pallavi, we messed up, and we are truly sorry. We understand how thoughtless and potentially harmful this was."