“It’s either super progressive or unbelievably backward,” says a comment on Tinder’s latest advertisement for India uploaded on its Facebook page. Another comment just laughs it off as a “sanskar overload”. Yet another wonders if Tinder is India is going the way of matrimonial apps.

Tinder, known across the world as a platform for easy hook-ups and casual sex, is definitely trying to be something else in India.

The latest ad opens with a young woman getting ready to go out in front of a mirror when her mother walks into the room. The mother clearly knows her daughter is headed for a date. But unlike the stereotypical Indian mothers, she’s ok with her daughter meeting men. She sits on the bed and looks on, when her daughter’s phone buzzes. The mother looks at the phone – like all moms do. 

It’s a Tinder message! But does disaster follow? Far from it. The mother approves the daughter’s look and – hold your breath – says that she would ‘swipe right’ on it.

Don’t believe us? Check out the new ad here:

So what Tinder is trying to do here?

  • Reach out to moms? Because their approval will boost the market like nothing else will
  • Is it trying to be a matrimonial platform?
  • In the ad, the daughter promises she would be back by evening. Is the app pretending to be as sanskari as the daughter in its ad?

Meanwhile, these were some of the reactions to the ad: