Amazon faces boycott call for sale of Indian flag imprinted products ahead of Republic Day

Just a couple of days ahead of Republic Day, Amazon on Monday received the flak on Twitter over selling products with the imprint of the Indian National Flag. The products sold by the E-commerce company include T-shirts, mugs and keychains.  Further, chocolate wrappers, which was noticed by the Twitteratis, received flak with some pointing out that using the Tricolour in such a manner was an 'insult and a violation of the country's flag code'. A call to immediately 'boycott' the products was also given by netizens following the insult to the Indian flag. 

As per the country's flag code, "The flag shall not be used as a portion of costume or uniform of any description. It shall not be embroidered or printed upon cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins or boxes." 

Amazon sells products with national flag imprint

Many hashtags like #Amazon_Insults_National_Flag and #Amazoninsultsnationalflag are trending on Twitter. There are hundreds of tweets being posted with these hashtags. A user wrote," So many freedom fighters gave their lives for independence and today in the name of fashion our national flag got insulted by companies like Amazon which is so shameful for every Indian and it feels so bad that no one is talking to stop these things."

While the other wrote," Amazon insulting our national flag. They must withdraw all products that insult us also. Government should take legal action on this as they are thinking only about how to make money, not about our country, this is very shameful." 

Notably, most of the products with the Indian national flag imprint are 3.5, 4 and above-reviewed products. 

Amazon in a habit of insulting Indian national flag?

This is not the first time that Amazon has tried to mint by insulting the tricolour. Previously, the US website of Amazon sold shoes and metal hoops for shoelaces resembling Indian tricolour. Also, resembling the Indian tricolour were doormats on its Canadian website. 

There was massive outrage on both instances, however, the Indian government had called on the E-Commerce giant to respect 'Indian sensibilities and feelings' in case of the Candian branch."Amazon India is committed to respecting Indian laws and customs. To the extent that these items offered by a third-party seller in Canada offended Indian sensibilities, Amazon regrets the same. At no time did we intend or mean to offend Indian sentiments," Amazon India vice president Amit Agarwal had said in a statement back then. Immediately thereafter, the products were dropped from the website.