A Shariah-compliant hotel in Malaysia has come under fire for allegedly using an inappropriate hashtag on its duit raya packets. The issue was brought to light by a Facebook user named Ina Tasha Merican yesterday.
In her post, she attached a picture of the duit raya packet and highlighted the offending hashtag, which she deemed unsuitable.
Ina argued that the hotel should have taken into account the general public if they wanted to execute a successful marketing strategy. She gave several examples to support her point.
"When it comes to crafting messages or any form of writing, the most important thing is to identify your audience," Ina said.
"If you want to give a speech to school children, don't use bombastic language that will require them to Google every other word. Otherwise, you might end up being called 'Acik Kamus' (Aunty Dictionary)."
In Ina's view, the hotel's marketing strategy in this instance was a failure. She argued that using a hashtag to promote a Shariah-compliant hotel brand was inappropriate because the duit raya packets are usually given to minors.
"For me, this is a marketing fail by Hotel Z*******r. They failed to identify their audience. The ones receiving these duit raya packets are children. Maybe some will be given to parents or adults, but the majority of the population receiving these are minors in Malaysia."
"I understand that your hotel is shariah-compliant. So your brand has a clean image. If you want to be scandalous, go to another hotel."
As a recipient, Ina could imagine how embarrassing it would be for parents if their children asked about the inappropriate hashtag.
"Imagine when kids receive the duit raya packets and ask their parents, 'What are these "romen-romen?' It would be quite a hassle for the parents to answer. And wouldn't they be embarrassed if they were asked about it in front of the person who gave them the duit raya packet?"
Therefore, Ina urged the hotel to be more careful in the future and to be mindful of the wording they use on their duit raya packets.
