Shaadi cons Katrina Kaif?
By Techgirl

Being a Mumbai girl, one gets to hear a lot of Bollywood gossip every hour of the day.  Media colleagues, my manicurist, taxi drivers and even the road side vendor in Bandra tell titillating tales of gay heroes, broken romances, drugs, betrayals and deals. Not dissimilar to what happens in a big BPO. 

There was a time when everyone swore that the young heart throb and Bollywood super star Katrina Kaif had tamed aging bad boy Salman Khan.  Then came the Khandaani cheat Ranbir Kapoor who dumped hottie Deepika and was seen cosying up to Katrina Kaif and other Bollywood beauties.

But now I am told everyone was wrong.  Katrina Kaif has decided to use Indian matrimonial website shaadi.com presumably to meet an honest, decent, easy going IT engineer like Mr. Murthy working for one of the tech major. 

On March 8, I had reported on how the top two Indian matrimonial websites Bharatmatrimony and Shaadi had turned a blind eye while their ‘affiliates’  were misusing photos of semi naked women to direct more ‘net traffic’ to the marriage sites.

It seems that all is fair as the two matrimonial sites battle it out to be on top.  Pluggd.in is reporting on how Shaadi is now using a photo of Katrina Kaif to lure single Indian men to its website. 

“
Shaadi has gone a step ahead and got Katrina Kaif to endorse. Call it coincidence but the ad is again on Facebook only. This of course does not look like a real endorsement deal. Not only is this unethical but also illegal, unless Katrina has a profile on Shaadi. Some of ours readers commented that this is not being done by Shaadi directly but by one of their affiliates, so isn’t Shaadi responsible for their own brand?

We are left with 2 questions, should there be strict policy for affiliates? And also, should Facebook verify authority of landing page before accepting advertisements?
“

Even as respected websites like Pluggd.in are debating these serious moral and ethical questions, other Indian matrimonial websites would be busy doing a Google search to find a good photo of Deepika Padukone to counter Shaadi’s strategy.

And if Katrina threatens to sue, expect a humble apology as if it was a genuine mistake.

(Techgoss had published the following article on March 8, 2010)

Sexy girl leads to Shaadi
By Techgirl

Bharatmatrimony and Shaadi are the top two matrimonial websites in India.  By all accounts, they do a good job in bringing single men and women together.

But the battle for hearts and rupees of the single Indian looking for love can be quite vicious.  The marriage market is worth hundreds of millions of rupees and so it is a cat fight between the many matrimonial competitors. They say all is fair in love and war.

If you think the girls were a bit bitchy while vying for the hand of recovered druggie and divorcee Rahul Mahajan in the matrimonial reality show ‘Rahul Mahajan Swayamvar’, you have a taste of what Shaadi and Bharatmatrimony will do for Indian singles to sign up.

Highly regarded business, tech and startups blog Pluggd.in reporting about how Shaadi.com and Bharatmatrimony.com are going to new lows for desperate traffic to their sites.

Check out the Facebook advertisement at the top of this article!  Is it for a porn chat site or an adult friendship site?  Pluggd.in is reporting on how this is a counter advertisement of Bharatmatrimony when Shaadi started using ads on Facebook starring buxom, sexy girls pouting ‘We have a crush on you’.  Naturally, if you clicked on the hot girl in Facebook who thinks you are sexy, you will be diverted to Shaadi.com.

And why are here no such Facebook ads of hunks talking to single Indian women?  On Women’s Day, I demand that 33 percent of all such matrimonial ads feature men.

Techgoss note: Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com