A Hyundai India user from Gujarat used his Hyundai car to transport their farm waste after the anti-India stand comes to light from Hyundai Pakistan.
Social media has blurred lines between truth and fiction. Despite several measures to curb fake news, it is pretty easy to spread any kind of misinformation. People latch on to provoking stories without checking their credibility. Recently, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) was bombarded with the #BoycottHyundai trend on various social media platforms. It started with a couple of Tweets from Hyundai and Kia distributors in Pakistan. Pretty soon, people started channeling their anger in irrational ways. One Hyundai Venue owner even used his car to transport farm waste!
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This incident once again showcases the evil side of social media platforms. On a regular basis, misinformation is spread to grab eyeballs through sensationalizing. In this case, a couple of tweets from Pakistan led to widespread hatred towards Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) as #BoycottHyundai started trending. As usual, people reacted without verifying facts. The Hyundai India was called anti-national and the tweets were quickly blown out of proportion by social media users in India. Eventually, Hyundai Motor India had to issue a clear statement condemning the insensitive communication and disowning the aforementioned Tweets.
However, the bizarre part of the incident was the reaction of Hyundai car owners. People were misled by tweets and enraged for no reason. After widespread branding of Hyundai as an anti-national company, many users shared pictures shaming the brand. A Hyundai India user from Gujarat used his Hyundai car to transport their farm waste. While another user put a cardboard cutout in the rear window saying, “I AM ASHAMED TO DRIVE THIS CAR WHCH IS FROM AN ANTI-NATIONAL COMPANY.” A user even shared a picture of a burning car with the tagline – “Just burnt my Creta to light my cigarette… … #Hyundai #BoycottHyundaiIndia.” The hatred towards the carmaker was so intense that many users even canceled their bookings of a Hyundai vehicle.
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In response to the latest controversy, Hyundai India said, “Hyundai Motor India has been committed to the Indian market for more than 25 years now and we stand firmly for our strong ethos of respecting nationalism. The unsolicited social media post linking Hyundai Motor India is offending our unparalleled commitment and service to this great country. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards insensitive communication and we strongly condemn any such view.” Hyundai Motor India Ltd has been a popular carmaker in India since 1996. It has time and again shown its commitment towards India through various CSR initiatives. The widespread backlash against the company has been quite unfortunate. Social media users need to learn to identify rumors from unverified sources.
