I find the 'Rishta Aunty' attempt disappointing on the whole
KARACHI: A chain of thought was sparked off in our office a few days ago when a coworker received a text message from Careem saying, “Your rishta has arrived.” The message further read, “Bas kar forever alone ka naara, ab status hoga ‘taken’ tumhara.” With this, they added, the company offers you the ‘halal’ way to find the right person. Have a rishta aunty accompany you during your ride.’ What ensued was laughter and nudges from fellow colleagues to perhaps give it a try. Others argued that was a ridiculous and far-fetched marketing strategy. “Who came up with this?”, we wondered.
However, the question that struck me the deepest was not how this emerged, but rather why? Does it not speak volumes for how obsessed Pakistani society is with marriage? If one needs business to pick up, does the addition of ‘marriage’ in the equation do the trick? Either this mania is the reality of our mindsets, or it is the imposition of a certain mental framework by businesses like Careem and the entertainment industry that attaches tremendous extrinsic value to marriage. For me personally, I find it hard to believe that Careem anticipated success for this endeavour in the self-proclaimed progressive era of 2017.
Turns out I wasn’t the only one disenchanted with, and unimpressed by, this advertising gimmick. Scrolling through Twitter, I noticed a popular figure calling out alternatives that car-booking service could have tried, rather than ‘Rishta Aunty’. Jibran Nasir, a civil liberty activist and lawyer, boldly tweeted Careem, urging, “If @CareemPAK wants innovative ways to help its young user base then let people book a ride with a career or education counselor #ThinkBig.” He went on to tweet, “A career/counseling service can help with CVs, awareness about market hiring trends, information on scholarships and even empower laws.” It was definitely a thought-provoking argument. Instead of expending our energies on arranging matches, perhaps an intimate car ride could indeed be used for fruitful purposes like helping a student get into college or attain the job of their dreams.
Careem’s regressive initiative opens the door for more brainstorming. I find the “Rishta Aunty” attempt disappointing on the whole, catering to the sort of mentality that this society needs to escape from.
Sanya Siddiqui
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2017.
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