Indian Government posts, then deletes, Grindr-inspired nutrition advert
- … and people are very confused.
The Indian government is currently promoting a nutrition-awareness initiative in the country: POSHAN Abhiyan month (#poshanmaah2020). Because of this, official social media accounts are pumping out food information and promotional adverts.
However, some Twitter users expressed bemusement at one advert which appeared on the the Twitter feed of MyGovIndia on Monday. A Reddit user screenshot the advert before it mysteriously disappeared.
Gov. Of india use this to promote nourishment month from r/lolgrindr
As many GSN readers may recognize, the chat interface used in the animation looks remarkably similar to a Grindr chat. A geolocation dating app aimed at gay and bi men, Grindr has over 3.6million daily users all around the world.
The Indian government does not have a reputation for being particularly gay-friendly. It was only in 2018 that the country’s Supreme Court finally struck down laws prohibiting gay sex.
The tweeted advert swifly disappears
The advert disappeared from Twitter several hours after people began to react to it, and this left people speculating on what had happened.
‘Glad I got a screenshot before “failed to load tweet” ROFL there’s perhaps a gay on this ad agency team having a massive laugh,’ said one.
Glad I got a screenshot before “failed to load tweet” ROFL there’s perhaps a gay on this ad agency team having a massive laugh and I Stan✨
Eat A Rainbow, @mygovindia 🌈
(For my hets out here the chat UI is quite clearly Grindr xD) pic.twitter.com/v6wR61vncH— Anirudh (@Ani_thingGoes) September 22, 2020
MyGov is having a chat on Grindr?
Hmmm. Didn’t see that one coming. pic.twitter.com/OIUFvpH6Pd— Cow Momma (@Cow__Momma) September 22, 2020
Gonna reinstall Grindr and eat some rainbow 🌈🍒🍆🍌🍑🥕
— Ritesh (@rkrgeek) September 22, 2020
Indian government endorsing Grindr, my 8480 hours on the app have been validated
— Vishi (@vishi_sensei) September 22, 2020
Getting plenty of Vitamin D
On Reddit, some joked the fruit and vegetable emojis used on Grindr perhaps confused officials.
‘Maybe they saw the 🍆 and 🍑 and thought people are pretty healthy there,’ said one.
GSN contacted MyGovIndia to ask about the advert’s inspiration and its removal. We’re awaiting a response.