Indian beauty start-up faces criticism over pretend emails sacking workers

An Indian beauty service start-up has become the centre of backlash and criticism in its bid to bring attention to workplace stress through a publicity campaign.  

An email from the start-up "Yes Madam" went viral on social media a few days ago in which the company informed "stressed" employees that they had decided to let go of workers who had indicated of feeling stressed at work, as per BBC. 

However, in a turn of events, the company on Tuesday clarified that it had not fired anyone and that the emails and social media posts were part of an effort to bring attention to the "serious issue of workplace stress".

The campaign received criticism for toying with the emotions of already stressed workers while some praised it for drawing attention to an important workplace issue.

Some users even pointed out that a previously unheard of company had succeeded in grabbing the limelight in a matter of hours.

"Free promotion done right, huh? Who needs a marketing budget when you have outrage as your social media manager?" one user posted on LinkedIn.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time a start-up has been involved in a controversy for being a part of a questionable publicity campaign.

In November, an Indian food delivery platform founder posted a job opening for “chief of staff” but said the candidate would not be paid for a year and would have to donate INR2 million to the company’s non-profit venture that aims to provide food to the poor.

The founder received bouquets and brickbats after he posted the job and later claimed that the received more than 10,000 applications for the job but failed to mention if he had hired anyone.