“Love” for rent on Chinese New Year, Lazada-Malaysia marketing campaign on

Kuala Lumpur’s leading online shopping portal Lazada-Malaysia intensifies its marketing promotion for the approaching Chinese New Year with its “boyfriend for hire” advertising via “Slash the Leng Chai” campaign that will end at midnight of January 19.

Lazada’s campaign offers eight “boyfriends” for “hire” for a good cause and eight women can spend an afternoon with the men on display. Prospective “girlfriends” can “slash” the price of their “leng chai” of choice. Likewise, the buyer can enlist “slashing” assistance from friends and family to get the 48 slashes to win a date at RM0.

According to a statement from Lazada-Malaysia chief marketing officer Andrew Gnananantham, the promotional concept was picked up due to a pet peeve of many women during the season when relatives have to 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,” Lazada’s CMO was quoted as saying.

Despite the campaign’s ingenuity though, some concerns have been broached by Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations chief executive officer Datuk Paul Selvaraj.

“Apart from the cultural aspects, they also have to look into the safety hazards to the consumer, especially data being used and exposed.”

Selvaraj revealed that the highest number of complaints received by the National Consumer Complaints Centre in the past three yearsre were all related to online shopping. “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.”

Nevertheless, even with the threat of possible fraudulent activities exploiting online shopping, Lazada’s promo will surely captivate many women who are now visualizing themselves of celebrating a Chinese New Year in high spirits.