Sexist Indian ad for hiring maids online goes viral

While many embraced the new service it was a source of controversy for others

An online maid service is taking India by storm, offering maids for house cleaning, cooking, babysitting and elderly help; and with Diwali on its way, the website suggested husbands 'gift' their wives a maid.

For obvious reasons, the ad sparked controversy, with many taking to Twitter to share jokes and comments; while others reproached the website for sexism.



A picture for the start-up, 'Bookmybai' (with bai referring to maid), began circulating on social media and had Twitter abuzz with comments and was also trolled for its cheeky tagline, "Diamonds are useless. Gift your wife a maid".

The service enables users to pick and choose a maid depending on their expectations as well as the religious, linguistic and places of birth of the maids.



While some embraced the new service, it became a source of controversy for several others who termed the service sexist and harshly criticised the disrespectful tagline.

“The campaign was extremely light hearted and we don't mean to stereotype or discriminate women,” said Anupam Sinhal, co founder of bookmybai, adding that "We would never dream of doing that since women are the reason we exist. Ninety nine per cent of domestic helps are women. It completely depends on the mindset of the person reading the advertisement.”

The ad went viral on Twitter and here's what people had to say about it:

https://twitter.com/anerishah99/status/660999504548655105/photo/1

#bookmybai Is A Revolutionary Business Idea. Can’t Say The Same About Its Ad #startup https://t.co/F4XNqNmPbu pic.twitter.com/2hMLjBxNk1

— DailyTop (@DailyTopAPP) November 3, 2015

https://twitter.com/AbhinavAgarwal/status/661064406709596160
https://twitter.com/socialbeatindia/status/661462703563784192

instead of bookmybai, shouldn't the mentality of people be criticized who actually choose maid based on religion, thus forcing such options?

— S🐼N (@engels_investor) November 3, 2015

@BookMyBai Thank you for saving us! https://t.co/fRocGyJi3S

— Nitisha Shah (@nitishashah1) November 4, 2015

iTWEET:#BookMyBai?!The #startup world is getting adventurous in its #BrandNames!You can book the inanimate.Stay careful with the animate!

— Harish Bijoor (@harishbijoor) November 4, 2015

https://twitter.com/ashupriolker/status/661790320225423362
https://twitter.com/aruns_nambiar/status/661468975725957120
Women rights campaigner Kavita Krishnan also tweeted that the ad is discriminatory while one twitter user even called it an ad for slavery.

@BookMyBai profiling domestic workers on grounds religion, region is discrimination, stop it https://t.co/X5nNofxS0P via @scroll_in

— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) November 3, 2015

What's this human slavery ad? https://t.co/rq5eMZMKvK

— ramasubramanian (@ramsankar83) November 2, 2015

Reddit users called 'Bookmybai' a shady startup after one user discovered a disparity in the photos used in their testimonials on the website.

Reddit Users Call BookMyBai A Shady Startup, Here's Their Response pic.twitter.com/poRVW1Qn4E

— Boltnews (@boltnews) November 4, 2015

Compiled with excerpts from Scroll.in