Why every brand is suddenly ‘apologising’ on Instagram — and no one’s really sorry

Open Instagram this week and you’ll think India’s corporate world is in crisis. Big, serious-looking apology letters flood your feed — from T-Series and Škoda to Haldiram’s and Dharma Productions. But read the fine print, and the confessions take a twist. These brands aren’t sorry for scandals or missteps — they’re “apologising” for being too good.

Welcome to India’s latest marketing obsession: the “Official Apology Letter” trend. A wave of mock apologies has taken over social media, where brands issue heartfelt regrets — not for hurting sentiments, but for delighting customers a little too much. What started as a tongue-in-cheek gimmick in the Philippines has snowballed into a full-blown marketing moment in India, roping in everyone from carmakers and FMCG giants to movie studios and media houses.

When apologies turn playful

It all began when Volkswagen India issued an “official apology” for making cars too hard to part with. Soon after, Škoda India joined in with a formal-looking statement “regretting” that its cars had set standards others couldn’t match. The humour struck gold online, and the apology contagion spread.

From Reliance Digital apologising for helping customers “find the best gadgets too easily” to Adani Ambuja Cement saying sorry because its walls were “too strong to drill through,” brands across sectors are using faux-formal apologies to grab attention.

Even Bollywood has caught the fever. Dharma Productions, Maddock Films, T-Series, and the makers of Tere Ishk Mein starring Dhanush and Kriti Sanon have all joined the trend, leaving fans amused — and a little confused.

Lifestyle and FMCG players soon followed suit. Myntra “apologised” for making collections too irresistible, Haldiram’s for snacks “too addictive to share,” Keventers for milkshakes too good to put down, and PVR Inox for “spoiling movie nights elsewhere.”

Joining the list are Vadilal, Mamaearth, Snickers, KitKat India, Boomer, Bingo!, Dabur Chyawanprash, Faasos, Delhivery, Jio, Traya, Paybima, Tata Soulful, Zoff, Fashion Factory, Six Fields, JACK&JONES India, Milex, Manforce, Lemonn, Nat Habit, Frido, CoinSwitch and Solitario. Even Deccan Herald got in on the act, issuing an apology for maintaining “truth and integrity for over a century.”

The result? Social feeds that look like a crisis management manual — but read like a stand-up comedy script.

The idea behind the irony

Marketing experts say the format works because it mimics the gravitas of a real corporate apology — the kind brands issue after a PR disaster — only to subvert it with humour. The juxtaposition of formality and wit instantly hooks users scrolling by.

According to Sprout Social’s “What Consumers Want on Social” report, 93% of consumers believe it’s important for brands to stay culturally relevant online — making such moment-marketing plays almost mandatory for visibility.

The critics aren’t laughing

But not everyone in the advertising industry is impressed.

“These are all fads — designed to create ‘brand excitement’,” says Sandeep Goyal, Chairman, Rediffusion. “No one knows if the excitement actually ever happens in terms of customer delight. For practitioners of advertising, it’s another box successfully ticked.”

He adds, “Don’t want to sound cynical, but there is no authenticity in such copycat stuff. The ‘trend’ took 15 months to reach India from the Philippines, but every digital agency just replicated the apology letter. After a point, even a joke repeated a hundred times becomes stale and evokes no more laughs.”

Prathap Suthan, Chief Creative Officer of Bang In The Middle, echoes that sentiment — and calls out what he sees as herd behaviour.

“If you’re the creator of the trend, you get the top seat at the trends table. The piggybackers are FOMO hunters,” says Suthan. “They want to cash in on something that’s getting eyeballs. But you’re doing nothing for the brand — no value, no equity, no mention, no sale.”

He warns of deeper risks.

“When a brand has to apologise for a genuine mistake, audiences might ignore it. This trend will vanish like most — leaving behind a few laughs and a lot of agency fatigue.”

What the trend really says about branding today

For India’s marketers, the “Apology Letter” trend captures both the speed and the shallowness of modern marketing. Every brand wants to be part of the conversation — even if it means parodying sincerity itself.

While the trend has succeeded in creating a collective moment of humour online, experts argue that it does little to build long-term brand equity.

As Goyal sums it up, these posts “create a collective high, and then disappear.”

In a world where attention is the new currency, brands may not be sorry for chasing virality — but audiences might soon be tired of accepting their apologies.