Rahul Krishnan, the co-founder of BoldCare, a sexual wellness brand, pulled off a daring marketing stunt that has sparked considerable debate online. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Krishnan made the controversial decision to publicly share his credit card details and even offered to provide one-time passwords (OTPs) for transactions under ₹1,000.
He announced his intentions with a playful message on X, stating, “My card number is 4216-8701-5010-2349, the expiration date is 12/30, the security code is 207. Happy Sextember, everyone.” He set some ground rules, however, specifying that transactions would be limited to ₹1,000, and he would only provide OTPs through direct replies to the original tweet thread.
Intrigued by the unusual offer, X users began to try their luck, leading to a flurry of microtransactions. Krishnan kept the stunt running for several hours, generously sharing countless OTPs. He even took a brief 30-minute break, revealing that he had a spending limit of ₹3 lakh on his card.
After five hours of this unconventional spending spree, Krishnan announced that his card had been blocked, likely due to the sheer volume of microtransactions. The purchases spanned various e-commerce platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, and Amazon, each under ₹1,000. One user even shared their experience of ordering paneer biryani from Zomato using Krishnan’s card, thanking him and promising to purchase from BoldCare as a return gesture.
The reasons behind Krishnan’s stunt remain unclear. While some users lauded it as a bold and effective marketing strategy, others expressed concerns about its potential risks and perceived irresponsibility.
One user commented, “Really smart marketing here. This is an SBI prepaid card on Visa’s network. Frankly, I’m appalled that this card hasn’t been flagged yet by Visa or SBI for such a high volume of activity originating from so many different IPs.” Another user highlighted the irony, stating, “Yeh sahi hai waise this man single handedly promoted himself as co-founder of boldcare instead of paying 5-10 lakh to an agency for marketing.”
One user questioned the legitimacy of the stunt, wondering what kind of marketing scam it might be. Another responded, “wow it looks like he chose to spend the ad budget to just buy ppl what they wanted and get that sweet engagement farming going and plug his brand real cleverly. well played.”
The BoldCare co-founder’s risky marketing experiment has undoubtedly garnered attention, but its long-term impact on the brand and the potential consequences of such unconventional tactics remain to be seen.
