RSS Feed

Lawn is (literally) the latest rage


Here's my blogpost that was published in the Express Tribune blogs section on 15th March 2012:
We love being angry don’t we? As a nation, Pakistanis are most certainly good at one thing: criticizing. I’m not saying that is a bad thing. It’s good to have an opinion, but we should know where to draw the line.
Being enraged about the violation of human rights by Maya Khan in her morning show was great. We showed her that civil society is sensible and very active.
However, when my Twitter and Facebook were flooded with angry comments about the latest Sana Safinaz advertising campaign last night, I had to see what the ‘poor’ brand had done to deserve this kind of thrashing.
Through the links provided in people’s tweets, I found myself staring at a beautiful model dressed in vibrantly coloured lawn sporting the most regal expression. Behind her was the source of the controversy – a group of poor ‘coolies’ standing indistinctly behind her, carrying her Louis Vuitton luggage, their faces partly shrouded by the brand name in bold letters.
The picture of a “poverty stricken coolie carrying a Louis Vuitton bag” had more than 200 comments below it posted by angry fans who were “disgusted” by the advertisement.
Zarlasht Faisal wrote:
“A fashion shoot becomes a political/social statement when you construct the visual narrative out of context. The context of the communication was that SS prints make you look good. But when you juxtapose it with a line up of coolies who symbolize daily back breaking labor with low wages it becomes a political statement. And that’s why I feel so many people took offense to it. “
Rabia Salman wrote:
“Why couldn’t you come up with a better campaign than this? It just glorifies the gap between rich and poor. Look at the poor man. His whole life’s savings is worth less than that bag.”
Abira Ashfaq:
“This is offensive to the plight of the poor. The men in the picture make barely minimum wage which is Rs. 7500 a month. How about a suit? How much did it cost? How many crores were your profits last year? Calls for a boycott.”
But isn’t the expression of the coolie shown in the picture exactly the same expression as your maid has when you ask her to do your laundry or iron your clothes.
Why, then, the rage?
Although Sana Safinaz might not have chosen the most politically correct marketing campaign, it is a realistic one. This campaign highlights a reality that exists in our society. It acts as a mirror to those privileged enough to have access to social media websites.
The variety of socio-economic classes that exist in our country are usually not on our mind when we’re spending exorbitant amounts on designer labels.
We don’t want to be reminded of those unfortunate people who can’t even afford to feed their children when we’re trying to think up new ways to show our affluence. No. These discussions are strictly prohibited outside cafés and internet forums. That’s where we think about social issues. How dare Sana Safinaz try and shove the bitter truth when all we want to do is ogle at slender models and chic dresses?
To the people comparing this campaign to Vogue India shoot back in 2008, please go through both and try to analyze the two.
If someone thinks that boycotting Sana Safinaz will make you a human rights activist, I’m sorry to break it to you but it won’t. For that, you actually need to do something other than changing lawn brands.
I’m sure that ‘phool wala’ kid you hand the five rupees coin to at the traffic signal does not care what lawn print you are wearing.


0 comments:

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Popular Posts

Labels

love random Mein aur merey awesome log blog food friends pakistan celebrities rant hum tv Allah crazy happiness sad sun internship sisterly love about me amreeka beautiful facebook happy harry potter money sylar work me shiny usa visa zachary quinto Muslim amazing an hero beauty boss change chocolate college funny funny pic hair health heroes hnmun ideas jaag mere talib ilm johnny depp karachi ma peace photograph saira siddiqi tribune 2011 Angelina Jolie CARMA NYC SS Talat Hussain animals anon awesome back behaviour bilal khan birthday bkjcqwicgkq bored brother cellphone chammak challo council cravings dangerous doll dumb eid exhausted express tribune false fat future give away glee global humanity image intense inter islamabad lady gaga lahore loyalty magnificant mehsen munazza saeed music office pakistani pathetic pms powers pretend purple quiz red result scary shahid afridi shizz stalk stalk stalk studies tagged theory thoughts tv twilight warmth whiny winter woman world 25 4chan ASA Daniel Pearl ET FML Flotilla Gaza Israel Joey LMAO LUMS Mr. Burger Musharraf NSFW Naskee OMG Palistine SITS SIUT WebMD abdullah adventure akon alarm amna android angry annelida anniversary anorexia apologize apples architecture armenia article astrology astronomy avari award baby bank barbie bikini black hole body bomb boston boycott boys break dance bree tanner bribe britney bucket list buildings bulimia bullshit bunnies calm cartoons cheetara childhood cinderella clouds coffee cold colour comment compromise conscience conspiracy cotton candy cricket cricket world cup cruelty cyanide and happiness dates daw death december desi destruction dieting dikhaway baaz diplomacy e-book earthworm eating disorders ego eid-ul-adha enemies evil expense facepalm failing fake fast fiction first fitness five gay girls goldfish gown gratitude green greetings grudge harvard hayastan hectic hijab hope hot hunger hypocrisy ice cream imagination imran khan india islam issue jack sparrow jared leto jason castro junk katy perry kayy lambada library lolwut lonely low self esteem magazine maliha ali mama parsi mark salling mausam mdd mind mindeff models morals morning movies myself nail polish nature nihari online panch rupay parody party pepsi perfect version personality photoshoot pious pissed please? poem porn prayers price proud purple flashers qoute rain raspberry rebellion relationships resolutions respect ryan seacrest salad salvation sania saeed school science self esteem issues self help senses shit brix shoes shopping sick again sky skype sleep slush smells social sorry spiderman sponsors star starbucks status stephanie meyer streaming stupid stupidity summer sunlight superhuman superman supermarket supress sweatshirt sychh test things thundercats time titanic towers toxic travel trolling is a art true tumblr tweet twitter uff universal video volunteering vote wake up want water weather weight well being when I was a kid win window wings wish women world cup world domination plans writing youth against express tribune youtube