A recent advertisement for Rapido, the bike-taxi app, starring Telugu actor Allu Arjun, has rubbed the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation the wrong way. In a press release, the TSRTC has said it will be sending a legal notice to the actor and Rapido for “tarnishing its image.”
TSRTC is referring to an advertisement recently put out by Rapido, featuring Allu Arjun as a roadside dosa vendor. In heavily-accented Telugu, the actor is seen telling a commuter that a person who gets on public transport like a “normal dosa” will get squashed like a “masala dosa” during commute. A visual of a crowded bus is also shown. Instead, he asks the commuter to use Rapido for a quick ride through the traffic that will be as “smooth as a dosa off the pan.”
Taking offence to this commercial, TSRTC’s Managing Director VC Sajjanar, IPS, has condemned it and said in the press statement that the organisation has taken “serious exception” to it. “The advertisement has drawn flak from a host of people, including RTC commuters, admirers, and our own and retired employees. They are condemning the negative manner in which the RTC bus has been shown in comparison to Rapido service. Demeaning TSRTC will neither be tolerated by the TSRTC management nor by the commuters, admirers and our own and retired employees,” the statement read.
The press release added that actors should instead promote the usage of public transport in advertisements for a “better and environmentally cleaner society.”
Noting that a legal notice will be sent to Allu Arjun and Rapido, the statement further said, “It is pertinent to mention here that cases have been already registered against those putting up stickers and pamphlets in buses and bus stations and also on those who are spitting pan, gutkha in buses and outside.”
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The press release also added that it was Sajjanar’s request to “actors, celebrities, and eminent personalities who are in a position to influence public opinion to desist from promoting content which is detrimental to public transportation and public good.”
Allu Arjun and Rapido have not commented on the issue so far.
Meanwhile, Rapido also released a Hindi version of the advertisement featuring actor Ranveer Singh.