Swish, a Bengaluru-based startup took an unconventional approach to marketing with its human ads. The pictures and videos of these human advertisements have now gone viral on social media, sparking mixed reactions from users. Shared by an X (formerly Twitter) user – Roshan @roshanonline, the image shows a group of men walking through the streets at night with illuminated advertisement boards on their backs, promoting Swish’s 10-minute food delivery service.
In the post, the user wrote:
“VC : how much funding do you need ?
Startup : 5 million $
VC : what’s your customer acquisition plan
Then : Human ads
VC : Take my money”The post was shared on December 6 and has garnered more than 135.7K views so far.
Take a look at the viral post here
— roshanonline (@roshanonline)
Viral human ads leave Internet divided
While human billboards are common and have been used since the 19th century, Swish’s human ads received widespread criticism, with some calling them ‘disgraceful’ and ‘extremely dehumanising’.
Commenting on the post, one user wrote, “India, with cheap labor at its disposal, is always ready to be exploited in multiple ways. This reminds me of people who used to hold lamps over their heads in shadi ki barat.”
“Maybe it’s just me, but human ads make me so sad. They’ve been walking around with that heavy thing on their backs for god knows how long,” commented one user. “Yeah, but this stinks. I would do it differently and not use human mules,” said X user Roshan.
Many praised the marketing strategy. One such user said, “This one was good. And here we are banging our heads on how to achieve profitability. It’s difficult to fight market forces.”
“I absolutely love DOOH adverts! They’re a relatively unexplored segment in India with a major rev grabber for everyone!” commented another.
