Myntra’s misleading push notification; a new controversy in social media land

Myntra’s push notification title read, “Elevated heart rate detected?” The reason below the title was “It’s coz of the *product* you liked | Hurry! Shop it today on Myntra.” This notification has sparked some buzz on the internet and most of it isn’t favorable for the brand.

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  • Storyboard18,
 | September 25, 2023 , 1:39 pm
the question that has been raised as a result of this campaign is if announcing the demise of a brand is a good marketing strategy. (Representative Image: Daria Nepriakhina via Unsplash)
the question that has been raised as a result of this campaign is if announcing the demise of a brand is a good marketing strategy. (Representative Image: Daria Nepriakhina via Unsplash)

In marketing, how important is it for the message to be clear for a brand’s target group (TG) to understand? Quite important, right? What about misleading messages? Well, cleverly misleading is a pretty common technique used by brands to lure an audience by telling them one thing but then connecting it to and showcasing something entirely different and brand specific. But this technique treads on a pretty fine line of distinction between the idea doing either very well or being completely rejected or trolled by the audience. There really is no middle ground.

This technique is usually seen being used on social media and through push notifications by apps on mobile phones. Zomato & Swiggy adopt this technique quite regularly and we see some great push notifications from these apps. Recently, Myntra released a push notification that had a catchy but terribly misleading title. Usually, smartwatches have a feature that send you a notification every time your heart rate is elevated. They do so for health and safety reasons because a high heart rate can be troublesome.

Myntra’s push notification title read, “Elevated heart rate detected?” The reason below the title was “It’s coz of the *product* you liked | Hurry! Shop it today on Myntra.” This notification has sparked some buzz on the internet and most of it isn’t favorable for the brand. Netizens believe that such a message was completely unwarranted. Health and safety are important subjects and this message itself could cause panic.

Samiddh DasGupta, chief marketing officer, Heads Up For Tails took to X to shares his thoughts about this controversial notification. He said, “I have been a marketer longer than you (Myntra) have been in business, and one thing that you DO NOT DO is use a health fear psychosis. Honestly, you need better people working on your communication. This is just unacceptable.”

Using fear to drive sales can’t be a very promising marketing tactic. It is plain unethical. Other netizens too weren’t pleased. Some users were even wondering if the Myntra (a fashion marketplace) app was somehow tracking their health data.

So much bad publicity over one poorly thought notification. Is it worth it? Does the phrase ‘anything goes’ apply in marketing just to get a few eyeballs? Brands need to be more careful with what they put out and promote in today’s time. Even a small hair out of place will be pointed out and be rightfully blown out of proportion.

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