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After traders protest Vijay Sethupathi’s endorsement of Mandee, app issues clarification

A group of close to 600 small and large scale traders from Chennai gathered outside actor Vijay Sethupathi’s office in Alwarthirunagar, Valasaravakkam in protest on Tuesday, demanding that the actor withdraw from endorsing Mandee, a recently launched online app for ordering groceries. The protestors carrying banners claimed that the app would eventually harm small scale traders like themselves and their request was for the actor to stop promoting it.

A recent television commercial shot for the app showed Vijay Sethupathi in dual roles, endorsing the brand as the “newest partner for grocery stores”.

Following commotion in the area, Valasaravakkam police came in to control the situation and close to 200 of the protesters were detained, and later let off.

Speaking to TNM, Arunachalamoorthy, President of the Tamil Nadu All Traders Unions’ Consortium, Chennai division, says, “Vijay Sethupathi is such a popular actor who supports farmers. We are disappointed that he has become the face of Mandee. We want him to promise not to appear endorsing the brand anymore.”

Arunachalamoorthy further adds that their union had tried to reach out to the actor last week but was not met with a favourable response. “We were told that the actor is shooting for his film outside Chennai, but the office refused to connect us with him otherwise. We then decided to gather outside his office in protest,” he tells TNM.

The group will hold further discussions on November 10 before deciding the next course of action. “If Vijay Sethupathi does not issue a favourable statement by then, we will protest before the release of his next film Sanga Tamizhan,” Arunachalamoorthy adds.

On Wednesday, acknowledging the protest in the city, Mandee put out an official statement on their social media page.

Explaining that theirs is a business-to-business platform and not direct to household (like apps such as BigBasket), Mandee released a statement defending Vijay Sethupathi’s involvement with their brand. “While this concept of an online Mandee is new, we felt it required a trustworthy face who also shares our care and concern towards farmers and traders – Makkal Selvan, Vijay Sethupathi. He accepted to endorse the brand after meticulously studying the brand, its business model and proof of service. Only when he was convinced that Mandee is for the real benefit for traders and farmers, people coming from a humble trading background, did he decide to engage with Mandee,” their statement reads.

Mandee maintains that their app has been launched for the benefit of the industry, after interacting with “farmers, manufacturers, distributors, dealers & retailers and over one and half years of research.”

Mandee is an online food commodity market that has been promoted by Salem based Jeyyam brand who are in the business for over 30 years.

Source: The News Minute