CHANDIGARH: During heavy rains in Gurugram, a stunt by a used-car platform, Cars24, involving a branded boat on a waterlogged road of the millennium city proved costly as the Gurugram Traffic Police imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 and seized the boat for violating regulations.
The matter came to light when Prachi Sharma, Head of Brand and Communications of Cars24, said that the company had deployed a Cars24-branded blue boat on the road on Saturday, taking a sarcastic take on the city’s water-logging during the monsoon. The police arrived within minutes and fined the company Rs 50,000.
She shared a post about it on her LinkedIn account by posting a picture of the boat and wrote, "Issue a challan to the one responsible for the waterlogging as well."
She wrote in a LinkedIn post, "Rs 50,000. That is what it cost us to break the law in Gurgaon last week. The crime: a boat. The location: a road. The road: a river. We put a Cars24 boat in the water as a joke about the rain. The challan arrived in seconds. The flooding has been arriving for years, and has never cost anyone anything.’’
She also shared a picture of four people rowing the blue boat, with 'Cars24' written on its side.
"People started getting in to get home because rowing was the fastest way across. A joke stops being funny the moment it becomes a commute. We have paid for the boat. We will pay the challan again (if we are required to take the boat out this week as well to help people, apparently). Still waiting for someone to be billed for the water and sincerely hoping this does grab tight eyeballs. Does your city flood like this as well?” Sharma wrote in her post.
Meanwhile, ACP (Traffic) Satyapal Yadav said that this matter has not yet come to his notice. Sharma’s post quickly gained traction, drawing a wave of reactions on social media.
The boat may have been the headline, but the real story is that people found it useful. "When a joke starts solving a real problem, it says more about the infrastructure than the campaign itself,” a user wrote.
Another user commented that he believes the reason for the challan is that no one is wearing Life Jackets on the boat. That is compulsory for any boat ride. "During floods in the late 70s, boats on flooded main roads of Patna were a common sight. I wonder why it got challaned here?" another person commented.
