Three days after the post by Hyundai celebrating ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ in Pakistan, The automobile company has been at the receiving end of wide condemnation and boycott calls in India. After a patronizing, unapologetic statement issued on February 07, Hyundai has issued a second statement on the controversy on Tuesday morning.

After messing up the cover-up for the post by its Pakistani handle in its first statement, Hyundai India in a second statement has distanced itself from the post saying that its distributor in Pakistan had misused Hyundai’s brand identity. The company has assured that its distributor in Pakistan has been made aware of the ‘inappropriateness of the action’. The statement released by Hyundai India Twitter handle read, “As a business policy, Hyundai Motor Company does not comment on political or religious issues in any specific region. Therefore, it is clearly against Hyundai Motor’s policy that the independently-owned distributor in Pakistan made unauthorized Kashmir-related social media posts from their own accounts.”

With the removal of the posts from Pakistani handles, Hyundai has attempted to assure that it rejects the Pakistani distributor’s ‘unauthorized non-business related social media activity.’

While acknowledging the fact that the post related to Kashmir was inappropriate, Hyundai is seen playing with words again while tendering an apology. “We deeply regret any offence caused to the people of India by this unofficial social media activity.” says the statement. Social media handles are still expecting a ‘sorry’ from the automobile giant, while the PR has done away with solely regrating the offence so caused.

Social media users have pointed out that the ‘regret’ still sounds insincere and reminded them that after their Pakistani distributor’s post was highlighted by Indians, the Hyundai India official handle had gone on a blocking spree, blocking anyone who asked them questions.

The second letter in the week by Hyundai

Earlier, Hyundai India had posted a similar official statement on its Twitter handle stating the social media post ‘unsolicited’. In the previous post, the company was seen glorifying its position in the Indian automobile sector in order to brush up its commitment towards India. Indian Twitter was harsher on Hyundai this time, for playing word games instead of clarifying its position in the controversy.

On Saturday, February 05, Pakistani handles of Hyundai, Kia, and junk food company KFC among others were seen sharing posts in support of the Pakistan sponsored violence in Kashmir which is celebrated as ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ every year on the 5th of February. The companies have faced a huge backlash and large-scale calls for boycotts in India after which many were seen falling in line.

References:

opindia.com