Even as calls for boycott of some global brands continued to trend on social media over the controversy on “Kashmir Solidarity Day” messages, Hyundai Motor Company on Tuesday reiterated its commitment to India while expressing regret over “offence caused to the people of India” by the unofficial social media activity.
Since Sunday, a lot of brands, particularly Hyundai India and KFC India, have been facing severe backlash on social media platforms following messages by their dealers and outlets in support of the ‘freedom struggle in Kashmir’. Many people have also shared screenshots of similar messages posted by accounts related to global brands such as Suzuki, Toyota, Dominos, Kia, Honda, Pizza Hut and Bosch. The posts have now been deleted.
“As a business policy, Hyundai Motor Company does not comment on political or religious issues in any specific region. Therefore, it is clearly against Hyundai Motor’s policy that the independently-owned distributor in Pakistan made unauthorised Kashmir-related social media posts from their own accounts,” the Korea-headquartered Hyundai Motor Company said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The company said once the situation was brought to our attention, it made the distributor acutely aware of the inappropriateness of the action. “We have since taken measures to ensure the distributor, which misused the Hyundai brand identity, has removed the social media post and we have put in place processes to prevent future recurrence,” it said.
It further added that its subsidiary, Hyundai Motor India is not associated with the distributor in Pakistan, and it “strongly rejects distributor’s unauthorised non-business related social media activity”.
Hyundai Motor Company has been investing in India for many decades and remains strongly committed to Indian customers. We deeply regret any offence caused to the people of India by this unofficial social media activity,” it added.
On Monday, KFC India had also issued an apology “for a post that was published on some KFC social media channels outside the country”.
“We honour and respect India, and remain steadfast in our commitment to serving all Indians with pride,” it has said.