Tinder’s new ad for India has provoked some strong reactions online for its soft-focus filter on a service that’s regarded mainly as a booty call enabler. To make the ad more palatable to an audience that has words like ‘shit’ and ‘damn’ bleeped out of big Hollywood releases by an overzealous Censor Board, Tinder has conjured up a scene where a mother gives her blessings—and some beauty advice—to a daughter headed out on a date. Criticism of the ad points out that this is a highly unlikely scene and kind of kills Tinder’s thrillingly sordid vibe. Where’s the fun in hooking up with someone if your mother approves, we guess, is their point. Critics also think it’s disingenuous of Tinder to use the sanskari route to sex—they’re pretending to be more wholesome than they really are. So basically, it’s an ad that embellishes the truth to appeal to the largest possible audience? Someone call the cops!
