The VICE Guide to Right Now

A Store Promised Buyers Cashback of Rs 50,000 if They Got Coronavirus Within 24 Hours of Purchase

The pandemic put the retail industry in limbo, which is now trying bizarre tactics to lure customers back.
coronavirus store retail
Photo courtesy of Ross Sneddon / Unsplash

The pandemic has rewritten the rules of retail—most customers are still apprehensive about stepping out to shop, making ecommerce boom. To counter this, brick and mortar shops are often turning to drastic measures to hold on to their customers. One shop in India’s southwestern coastal state of Kerala, though, took it a tad too far. 

This electronics shop put out a bizarre advertisement which promised customers a “cashback of Rs 50,000 (about $670) without GST” if they tested positive for the coronavirus within 24 hours of shopping at their store. This offer was circulated both online and offline, which even led to the shop seeing an incredible spurt in buyers after they posted their pandemic offer. 

Advertisement

The offer was said to be valid between August 15 and 30, but after the shop saw a surge in shoppers, it caught the eye of the town administration. 

It led to Binu Pulikkakkandam, a lawyer in Kottayam in Kerala, to submit a plea to the chief minister of the state. In his petition, he said that the promotional offer is unlawful and punishable. It also might lure a COVID-19 positive person to make purchases by hiding his health condition and later claiming the cashback. “Those without sound financial backgrounds might be forced to get COVID-19 infection to earn so much money,” wrote the lawyer. “It is a massive appeal to spread the contagious disease intentionally. The business owner has forgotten social responsibility while aiming to flourish his business.”

With over 47,000 total cases in the state, it has imposed a restriction allowing only 20 people in a shop at a time. This electronics shop, which might have been breaking the guidelines after shoppers thronged it, was immediately shut. The police have now also launched a probe against the owner.

But this store is not the only one in the pandemic to adopt bizarre marketing techniques, or even come out with peculiar products amid the pandemic. A furniture shop in Thane advertised selling “corona resistant mattress”; Siyaram, one of India's leading fabric manufacturers, came out with anti-corona fabric; apparel company Zodiac also advertised shirts that promised to ward off the virus

Follow Satviki on Instagram.