‘I Miss You, Says I-Pill’: Zepto’s Marketing Message To Woman Backfires, Firm Issues Apology

Pallavi Pareek, a legal expert in workplace diversity and sexual harassment prevention, took to social networking platform LinkedIn and shared her experience

A marketing gimmick from Zepto went horribly wrong and ended up opening the quick commerce platform to a lot of criticism. The issue came to light when a customer shared that Zepto sent her an unsolicited and inappropriate marketing message in a tone deaf manner.

Pallavi Pareek, a legal expert in workplace diversity and sexual harassment prevention, took to social networking platform LinkedIn and shared her experience. She said that she received a message from the company that said, “I miss you, Pallavi, says I-pill Emergency Contraceptive pill.” This attracted a lot of attention on social media and Netizens questioned the ethics of digital marketing.

Addressing Zepto, Pareek in her post noted, “Dear Zepto and Zepto Cares team So many things wrong about this. One, I have never ordered an emergency pill from you. Even if I did, you should know that this is not something that should be missing me or I should be missing it. You want me to have a need of taking an emergency contraceptive? But most important why am I getting this when this order has never been placed with you. Messaging is right only if it is sensitive or humorous or has some logic to it. I draw a line when your notifications are flirty or trying to be sleazy cheesy. But this is a little too much.”

Her post quickly went viral and attracted more than 2,650 likes. However, Pareek clarified that she has no intentions to defame Zepto or its products. She emphasised that she loved the app and its products and depends on these heavily in her daily life. “This post is to highlight the flaw in mindless logic and copy and not against ipill promo or availability,” she pointed out.

Responding to the post, Zepto apologised for their insensitive tactic and said, “Hey Pallavi, We messed up, and for that, we're truly sorry. We understand how thoughtless and potentially harmful it was. Please know we've taken immediate action: - Corrected the issue - Updated our processes - Retrained our team We value your trust and well-being above all. This mistake won't happen again.”

However, the ordeal started a wider conversation regarding the role of technology in marketing the need for human oversight in the matter. Others simply called out the firm for indulging in inappropriate marketing tactics. One of the users commented, “Hey Zepto, I think my groceries are getting a little too personal. I’m here for the fresh produce, not emergency products that miss me more than my ex! Maybe let’s leave the flirty messages to Tinder? Just saying. You went too far, BY THE WAY…”