UPDATED 22:46 EST / FEBRUARY 04 2015

#uberkittens: Uber offers kitten delivery service in Australia for the first time NEWS

#uberkittens: Uber offers kitten delivery service in Australia for the first time

#uberkittens: Uber offers kitten delivery service in Australia for the first timeUber Inc. has upped the ante in the ridesharing space by offering its Uber Kittens service in Australia for the first time.

Uber Kittens, as the name may suggest, allows Uber users to have kittens delivered to their home or workplace for 15 minutes of play time for AU$40 ($31.14.)

Available between 12pm to 4pm Thursday February 5th only, the service is on offer in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Geelong and the Gold Coast.

While it’s clearly a PR stunt, the service does have good intentions, with Uber donating all funds raised to local animal shelters in each city the promotion runs in. Uber Kitten users will also be able to adopt kittens they book through the service, with all participating kittens being sourced from animal shelters and looking for their “forever” home.

Being Australia, a country where anything that brings people joy is inevitably derided by experts who claim to know better, the move to offer the service has been condemned by…experts.

James Wright, Group MD Havas Worldwide Australia told marketing blog Mumbrella that the local launch did nothing to help Uber’s cause, particularly following their negative publicity for implementing surge pricing during the Sydney Siege terrorist attack.

“They have bigger public perception problems to address, I don’t think it can be solved with fluff and guff around spoiling kittens,” Wright said.“It’s a very noble cause but I would like to know what the strategy is around this; I mean what do kittens have to do with a taxi service other than generating a positive story?”

According to reports animals rights activists are also claiming that the promotion is cruel to the kittens involved.

This isn’t the first time Uber has offered Uber Kittens as a promotion: the ridesharing company has offered the service in one off promotions in the United States previously, but it is a first for Australia.

There’s many things you can criticize Uber for, from their preponderance to operate illegally in most cities they are located, the fact that they don’t screen their drivers properly and customers are now raped on a semi-regular basis, through to a reported mysoginist culture at a corporate level. But criticizing them for offering kittens to promote animal adoption….some people need to get over themselves.

Uber Kitten can be booked through the Uber app.


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