Flipkart's Glam Fest in Delhi, an influencer-focused beauty event, has come under scrutiny after videos showing attendees scrambling for giveaway hampers and merchandise went viral on social media.
Held on June 19 at Pragati Maidan, the event brought together beauty influencers from across the country and featured appearances by Bollywood actors Janhvi Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar. While several attendees initially praised the event for its overall experience, criticism soon emerged online over alleged overcrowding and poor crowd management.
The controversy centred around the distribution of the promised goodie bags at the end of the event. Multiple videos circulating on social media show attendees rushing towards stacks of hampers, with some climbing into restricted areas to collect merchandise. Another clip appears to show a heated altercation between a man and two women over a giveaway bag.
Beauty influencer Ravleen Kaur, who attended the event, shared one of the viral videos and criticised the organisers for the handling of the giveaway distribution.
In the caption of her Instagram post, she alleged that attendees who stayed until the end of the event were unable to collect the promised hampers, which she claimed were valued at around ₹6,000 as part of a barter collaboration. She further alleged that Flipkart staff were absent when the crowd situation escalated, leaving no one to manage the distribution or take responsibility.
While acknowledging that some attendees "went a little overboard" in snatching bags from one another, Kaur maintained that the situation reflected poor event management and that the organisers should be held accountable.
The videos quickly sparked debate online, with social media users questioning both the event's organisation and the behaviour of some attendees.
One user commented that the event appeared to have lacked proper influencer selection criteria, suggesting that some participants seemed to attend primarily for the giveaway hampers. Another questioned whether attendees were interested only in collecting freebies, while a third remarked that skipping the event in favour of work had turned out to be the better decision.
Some users, however, argued that the issue was specific to the Delhi edition. Comparing it with last year's Mumbai event, one commenter claimed that the previous edition had run smoothly despite attracting a larger crowd.
Flipkart has not publicly responded to the criticism or the allegations regarding crowd management at the time of writing.
