KUALA LUMPUR: An online shopping portal is offering eight “boyfriends” for “hire” for a good cause this Chinese New Year, through its three-day “Slash the Leng Chai (handsome boy)” campaign, which ends at the stroke of midnight tomorrow.
Eight women can spend an afternoon with the men on display for the campaign.
Prospective “girlfriends” can “slash” the price of their “leng chai” of choice from RM8,888.88.
The buyer can also enlist “slashing” assistance from friends and family to get the 48 slashes to win a date at RM0.
Lazada will then contact the “lucky buyer” between Jan 21 and 23 for details.
There are eight men from multiracial backgrounds to choose from. Checks on the app showed that some were already sold-out.
The webmasters teased “buyers” with sales jargon such as “14 days easy return”, “change of mind applicable”, “warranty not available”, as well as offering an instalment plan.
The portal baited the public via its press release, asking the public if they were “tired of nosey aunties meddling in your love life at Chinese New Year gatherings”. However, the time spent with the men would be at an old folks’ home.
Lazada Malaysia chief marketing officer Andrew Gnananantham said the campaign was chosen because a pet peeve for many during the season was having relatives ask them about their love lives.
“We decided to put a fun twist on the scenario by providing shoppers the chance to ‘slash’ for a date and bring festive joy to the elderly.
“Slash It” is a social shopping feature that brings people together by getting friends and family involved to help each other “Slash” prices off items to get the best deals.
“Many elderly folk in homes rarely receive visits or leave the home during CNY, and the reunion dinner plays a significant part in ushering in the New Year. We want to share the love through this initiative by bringing the reunion to them, including boyfriends.”
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations chief executive officer Datuk Paul Selvaraj, however, voiced concern about the campaign.
“Apart from the cultural aspects, they also have to look into the safety hazards to the consumer, especially data being used and exposed.”
He said complaints related to online shopping made up the highest number of complaints received by the National Consumer Complaints Centre in the past three years.
“There are instances where people received calls from unknown individuals after making purchases from online vendors, so the sale of data is a genuine fear.”