KARACHI:
Their faces are on billboards. One carries a distinctive Louis Vuitton bag. A glamorous supermodel poses in front of them.
It is the advertisement that has sparked outrage on social media websites. Part of the campaign for Sana Safinaz’s designer lawn, the ad showing model Neha Ahmed posing in front of coolies has caused a stir online, with people calling for a boycott of the lawn because they have found the ad distasteful and exploitative.
But at Karachi’s Cantt station, the coolies featured in the advertisement are quite unaware that they’re the subject of dozens of tweets and Facebook updates.
In fact, they have no idea that they are in a lawn advertisement.
Three of the coolies who feature in the Sana Safinaz lawn campaign had no idea it was an advertisement for fabric. “We were told it was for a drama serial,” says Mohammad Ilyas, a coolie from Gujrat.
“This is an advertisement for lawn,” I tell them, zooming into the photo on my phone. “That is the girl… and that’s me in the background,” Ilyas says.
According to the coolies, a couple of weeks ago their contractor (thekaydar) Allah Ditta was approached by the people behind the lawn campaign, who asked for several coolies to feature in a “film”.
The shoot took place at two railway stations over two days, the City Railway Station and the one at Drigh Road. Twelve coolies went to the shoot at City, seven of them to the Drigh Road Station.
“There were about a hundred, 150 people at the shooting,” Ilyas said. “They had arranged for a train (for the shoot). We were told to pick up bags — they had brought all these boxes and bags — and take them on and off the train. The train was decorated with balloons etc.”
The three coolies interviewed described being paid varied amounts. Ilyas said the men were given Rs600 per day for their labour, and were offered food on the first day of the shoot, but not the second. The shoot ran from 6 am to 6 pm. “We make Rs600 or so in a day as well,” said Ilyas, who has worked at Cantt Station for 20 years. “So for us this was labour.”
The men were also given clothes to wear under their distinctive red uniforms and badges.
Shah Mohammad strolls up in his shalwar kameez and begins to put on his uniform, proclaiming him as Number 206. He ties his badge on and then peers at the photo. Sixty-five and a 40-year veteran at the Cantt Station, Shah Mohammad is the man who held the now famed Louis Vuitton bag in the advertisement.
But like Ilyas, he is unaware he’s the star of an advertisement.
“I’ll go and see it now,” he says, when told that the billboards have gone up around the city.
Mohammad says the men were also given an additional Rs2,000 at the end of the day.
But while online commentators have raised questions of exploitation and that the advertisement is in bad taste, Shah Mohammad says, “It seemed fine to us.”
Mohammad Asif, 32, can’t see himself in the image, but says he was at the shoot. He has spent half his life working as a coolie, and says he was paid Rs500 for being at the Drigh Road shoot. “There isn’t anything wrong about this.”’
Shani, part of the Lahore-based photographer duo Guddu Shani who shot the advertisement campaign, told The Express Tribune that the ad has been misconstrued. “This was a theme in the ad campaign. The purpose was that Sana Safinaz is trying to lower their prices and penetrate the masses. So we’ve shown Neha sitting on the floor and mingling with them, but people have misinterpreted that. It’s a big brand, and we wanted to show the mix of a high-end brand with street fashion. We’ve always preferred local places to shoot, we did a shoot last year with Gul Ahmed and the model Ayaan that also featured coolies standing at the side and smiling. We shot other ads in factories with welders etc.”
According to Shani, the campaign makes sense in the larger context of the entire campaign, which comprises print and television commercials.
Shani says the coolies definitely knew they were in a lawn campaign and were “very happy”.
“They were smiling and laughing, they were excited that their pictures would be on billboards.” Abid Ali, whose production company AFAS Productions managed the shoot, said the coolies were paid “Rs10,000 each” for the two-day shoot. “A boy from my staff went to organise this and we had permission to use the trains,” he said.
Designer Safinaz Munir says “people have just taken one image out and are passing judgment” and not “looking at the entire ad campaign in its totality”.
“Our intentions are so pure,” Munir said, “It’s really sad. It doesn’t matter to me that 20, 30 people are passing judgment. On the other hand, we’ve had thousands of people who’ve loved the ads and the designs. And railway stations have been used in so many campaigns — 10 years ago Samina Ibrahim did a very similar shoot for Herald with [designer] Rizwan Beyg, train stations are in the Ufone campaign too.”
But Munir isn’t deterred by the criticism. “We’re public figures and if you can’t take this you shouldn’t be in the public eye. It goes with the territory.”
“Everyone uses porters for luggage. No one carries their own luggage,” Munir said, whose personal luggage was used in the advertisements. “Like your driver drives your car, that’s his job.”
Advertising executive and The Express Tribune columnist Sami Shah says that, “If you spend any time with Photoshop, you can see that the coolies and the woman were shot separately. So this isn’t a case of them and her being in the same shoot at the same time, which would have been, at least, more of a concept.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2012.
COMMENTS (61)
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This ad campaign was definitely disrespectful and offensive, but honestly, what do we think happens when we jump in our cars and spend thousands of ruppees on lawn..this add is insulting not because of its message but because of the mirror its forcing us to look into..writing self righteous articles like these doesn't show you care, just shows the hypocrisy of our increasingly materialistic society who may fashion speeches of how wrong it is to undermine the lower class, but then probably ignore all their maids and drivers at home..dont get mad at sana safinaz because they pegged us quite accurately, there's a reason they thought this ad would appeal to the aesthetics of our society and judging by the 'likes' and orders this photo received,id say they proved a point.Interviewing the coolies and waving your expensive phone around in their faces doesnt do anyone any good.
This is called !!!!!!!! ??? Creativity :) Great article ! Thanx for sharing.
In regards to the whole Sana Safinaz controversy, I find it idiotic the way people reacted. It seems Pakistanis misunderstand even the basics of advertising. "For people do not find it pleasant to honour someone else: they suppose that they are then being deprived of something themselves." - attributed to 6th century greek philosopher Democritus, speaking about the tall poppy syndrome. Nothing quite as noxious as a banal and insipid middle class.
I am middle class pakistani. i don't own lv as yet. if i had money i would definitely purchase LV, and purchase for my wife sans safinaz dresses. We have seen the dresses. they are very nice. Maybe one day i am able to afford.
Distasteful!
Since when did Pakistan turn into a Marxist desh? We are a qawn which employs 7 year old babysitters for 1-4 year old kids. that's super eww.
we as a country are headed to economic annihilation at the hands of neo-capitalists. mass disparities such as these should be a warning. unless we work for social change, things are going to get much worse.
Sanasafinaz and hyperstar are examples of what needs change in this country.
my comment above modified to blog.
http://lurkinginambush.blogspot.com/2012/03/sanasafinaz-and-new-colonial-takeover.html
Saba, good that you showed all aspects of the story , Unlike the SS lobby journos, busy tweeting and blogging justifications ... had it been done to Neha that the contract was mis-sold, by saying that these photos will be published in print and not on packaging , wouldnt she have taken SS to court, but these poor koolies were easily mis-sold for the reason they are not aware of LV trunck or a Birkin bag.... its just if the trimmings shown on the lawn jora packing are missing inside the packaging, SAD to see such a thing coming from Top Designers like SS.. very sad indeed ... there lawn will do buisness more then 15 crore this season and here what they are saving upon the 'Models' betrayed as just 'Koolies'.. really unfair and un-kooly !
Reading all the comments makes me wonder why people seem to be missing the point that even if the campaign was part of some "larger social outreach program" to be initiated by S&S, the fact that they paid a measly Rs.600 to these coolies, which is probably like change that just dropped out of S&S's pocket that day, makes me sick!
this is a sham. we are singling out sana safinaz's ad 'bc they are parading with expensive merchandize in front of low income people, we are hypocrites. dont we all do the same? Don’t we parade around our maids/driver/waiters by going to expensive restaurants spending thousands on food in a day - when these people would earn that in a month and would have to feed a huge family on it? we might not have LV to show off but even if we have Jafferjees and we parade around them, when for a koolie - VL and Jafferjees are the same, something completely out of his reach.
our so called social elite need to stop making people like sana safina and maya khan escape goats - admit it we single them out to make no one but ourselves feel better. people need to get off the high horse of moral superiority
@Saadat Hussain:
What I find cynical is the fact that every time someone has a legitimate point to make that runs contrary to the "Promote/defend anything Pakistani at all costs!"-mentality, their opinions (which ought to be acknowledged regardless of whether you agree or not) are dismissed, silenced and shamed by resorting to labeling. It's easy to live in the bubble you create for yourself and not challenge assumptions when you can just say "That person is just a mullah/liberal/burger/paindu/minority/xyz." It's a slippery slope.
I say this because I identify as a "progressive" (even though I infer from your tone that it has derogatory connotations to you) but I don't go out for "lattes and croissants" as a habit, struggle to make ends meet and try to do my work conscientiously without stepping over or exploiting people in the process. What does that make me now? Are you going to call me jealous, or envious? I am not. I could care less for designer merchandise, big gated houses and having a legion of people to serve me. I don't want that life, which to me just looks like a gilded cage.
While I am proud as a Pakistani woman for the recognition and success of other working women - I cannot condone any unethical practices that they may engage in. I am capable of seeing both sides of the coin. I understand perfectly well how hard it is to get things done over here, and how there will always be someone to spite you for doing it.
The thing is that not all criticism comes out of spite. Some of it is valid - and I am bemused by the fact that the only way some people know how to deal with being told the truth is to get defensive and call the other person a hypocrite. We will always be a nation that has to screw someone over to get ahead with this kind of mentality. I think people like that are the cynical ones. The ones who have the means to educate themselves, but make the choice to remain ignorant about some of the more odious aspects of Capitalism.
i'm sure louis vuitton (or however you spell it) will be floored to hear his bags are getting free publicity in Pakistan (not). Moreover I'm impressed with the fact that Sana Safinaz have finally understood the market they cater to and are embracing it with open arms - hello nouveau riche!
A few comments as a Brand builder, marketeer. The only thing wrong about the campaign is lack of originality and blatant display of wealth. The fact that this divide in our society exists and it's getting wider should not be displayed so openly as it comes as a mockery of our society and seems distasteful. This requires a bit deeper analysis. Regardless of who came up with the concept, it was approved by SS, hence it represents the brands elitest snob appeal, and as we know from the past response their brand received, there is a huge following and its growing bigger, hence they are moving from exhibition to distribution to stores, to increase their reach. At the end of the day, it's just Lawn, a fabric produced in France to be worn in the hot summer days, for it's sheer light weight properties. BTW the reason it's called Lawn is because it was created first in La'on, a city in France, Gul Ahmed take note! Now about the originality of the campaign, it seems inspired by a fashion shoot featured in Vogue India, LV travel bag campaign and recent LV Spring summer fashion show held at a train station in France, sans the coolies. And of course how can one forget Asim Jofa's campaign........no need to go there, we all know how that ended. BTW one should also take note of the comments made by conservatives demanding against using models for lawn ads and boycotting the products hmm.......I wonder if these ppl use soap, shampoo, toothpaste etc etc
@Asad:
I happen to think that ET is purposely practicing its ability to generate outrage. This media outlet thrives on emotion, not news. The weekly themes of forced conversions, minority oppression, and big bad Islam are interspersed with other items designed to test impact, i.e. the Maya Khan story, this Sana and Safinaz Story, and keep watching and they'll be doing more of this. In essence, ET seems to be an experiment. Those twitter revolutions and facebook protests didnt come out of thin air. There was always foreign affiliation and that link trained and practiced dry runs before the real deal. This is what ET looks like to me...a foreign implant in Pakistan with a specific role.
Fake LV bags represent the level of originality of this campaign.
Im a liberal and all for no exploitation/standing up for rights etc, but this one is just plain dumb.
also can I just say great article Saba for bringing this to everyone's attention, I dunno how much flak you are going to receive for this piece within your circle, but I live abroad and would have never been able to find out about this ad hadnt it been for this article.
While SanaSafinaz achieve huge profits; these profits are clearly not equally and fairly distributed to the level of the common laborer - including textile workers, weavers, power loom workers, dyers and cotton pickers. I think what would be fair is if they all saw an increase in living standard - which they have not. Which is why the class divide depicted in the ad is inexcusable and insensitive.
The allegation against SanaSafinaz that the coolies were not told exactly how their image would be be put to use amounts to a fraudulent representation which should be investigated. Everyone has a right to privacy, and a right to benefit from their own image (or at least not have others benefit from these in a manner that they had not consented to and were ignorant about) Had the coolies been provided disclosure of the nature of their business, they could have bargained in a more informed way.
Moreover, the picture is Orientalist. True all people are brown here. Its the class and neo-liberal undertones. The railway worker and the Pakistan Railways have suffered a neo liberalization/military assault that has destroyed the latter as an institution over the last twenty years. The railway worker aptly is depicted as a relic of the past. Most rich people, including the upper class woman in the ad with her LV bag, would travel by air. Trains are simply thrown in as backdrop, the coolies as props, for the sake of nostalgia. The colors and mood invoke a sense of the colonial period. The upper class woman is akin to a white woman, with a sense of entitlement and arrogance, commanding servitude from the other, the coolie, the native, the dying working class crushed under colonization's new form, neo liberalization
Coolies are struggling to get their pension funds, and work under an onerous contractual system. The barely make enough to survive. Infrastructure has been neglected; funds and freight jobs siphoned off by the National Logistics Cell - there have attempts of privatization - the government has horribly neglected the railways and in fact the the two military regimes of Zia and Musharaff in collusion with the world bank have devoured the institution. The current railways minster is bent on taking the destruction beyond repair.
And now this ad.
I am not saying that the makers or the ad and the SS corporation had thought about all these implications - which is worse. It makes them appear wanton and irresponsible that they have not fully understood what it means to depict and represent the working class in a sector that has been destroyed by the an unjust economic system - where coolies have lost livelihoods - and niche businesses like SS have made crores.
Please read the articles for further info. about railways workers and PR, http://issuu.com/loungemagazine/docs/review59for_web ttp://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-62101-Coolies%E2%80%99-livelihood-goes-off-the-rail
And demand that sanasafinaz issue an official apology and provide compensation and damages to the concerned railway workers and unions.
IF the coolies were paid fairly or well...I dont see a problem with the ad.
Other then the fact that middle class ladies travelling on trains do not carry LV bags, a simpler samsonite would have done the trick. But that is the only blunder I see.
Btw..this isnt the first ad of its kind, a google search would show a lot of international ads done the same way.
@Erum K "Both the campaign & the explanation not convincing…It would’ve been perceived positively if the model was shown mingling with the coolies in a humane context" . Is the female model whipping the coolies? Aren't the coolies doing what they are supposed to do - carry luggage? . This - is - a more humane context, how many times have you seen women intermingle with coolies?
I feel great to see that our people are on the web, talking about things they see around themselves and discussing the factors behind them. Talk, blab, chat, share, do anything, it makes the audience and consumers more powerful and takes us one step closer to becoming an information society.
"Fashion reflects culture; it reflects our times. A great fashion photograph can tell you just as much about what is going on in our world as any headline or TV report,"--Anna Wintour
This is what happens when ET doesn't come out with something fresh on Veena Malik every few days.........people are then forced to grab onto anything, in order to blab.
There is nothing wrong with the ad. The illiberal-liberals were unable to keep their mullah face in hiding.
The top most comment: "condescendingly elitist" and then "caviar" Hahahaha elitist people and their elitist analogies!
Both the campaign & the explanation not convincing...It would've been perceived positively if the model was shown mingling with the coolies in a humane context
@Disgusted:
This is very cynical. As long as there is a protest, a boycott or just someone or something to scathe, there is meaning to life for a lot of very luxuriously living (probably off someone else's labour) "progressives".
Shermeen Obaid-Chinoy is just as bad because of complaining about it and because she made an issue of something that should have been highlighted if these progressives werent too busy whining about it over their lattes and croissants Sana Safinaz or some other lawn when they do the cardinal sin of - just being there, or something equally egregious - these carrion eaters will come out in droves, their feeding frenzy to ravish
Oh God if not these then the mullahs. Have you really cursed us so much
@raw is war: u both are same.Ain't u
@Habiba can you please provide proof of 'loyalty joras' ever given to the Taha that you mentioned. Please refrain from soiling the names of reporters when you do not know them personally
Oh lay off! The poor model is at the railway station in the first place because she blew all her wealth on her SS joras (SS snicker) and her LV gear so she can't afford to fly anymore :( And it's those nasty, insensitive coolies who are silently laughing at her plight as they finger the fat wads of cash in their pockets.
It is hilarious to see people mounting on their moral high horses and issuing condescending, holier-than-thou kind of statements, forgetting that they are guilty of the same what they are accusing Sana Safinaz of: elitism. In fact, such commentators are worse as they are guilty of moral elitism--perhaps, the worst kind of elitism.
To all those who criticise Sana Safinaz lawn campaign; who don't understand fashion; who love to run fashion down and all those who are associated with it: "I think what I often see is that people are frighteened about fashion. Because it scares them or make them feel insecure they just put it down. On the whole people that may say, the meanny things about our world I think that's usually because they feel, in some ways, excluded or, you know, not a part of 'the cool group' so as a result they just mock it."--Anna Wintour
Time for Misses S & S to think seriously about 'corporate social responsibility'. And to stop being so tiresomely derivative in their advertising campaigns. It all been done before, ladies. Come up with something more original!
A computer in this day and age is pretty much a necessity....it's educational/communication value unprecedented. When I was born...my father told my mother he would start saving up for a computer...because they will become important by the time I grew up...and it's true. Making the computer/ sana safinaz lawn comparison is absolutely retarded. Computers have the ability to open up minds, and change lives....lawn does not. And I also don't agree with the being first to run out and buy SS lawn. Big fan of their couture work...but lawn? a big no no. Dunno why people r so quick to make assumptions.
lowering prices ?penetrate masses ?? since when can our masses afford $60,000 crocodile birkins and $1000 louboutin shoes?!. sana safinaz have really lost the plot this year. our masses dont wear 10 carat diamonds in thier hands and go parading about train stations.
So much outrage on an ad campaign? Difa-e-Pakistan council Zindabad!
Funny seeing people commenting against an ad campaign and labelling it as an elitist agenda - as if they bought their computers through the zakat fund. I am standing by the campaign, there is nothing explicit about it.
The epitome of liberal forethought. No wonder liberal elite rule of Pakistan has been so disastrous.
amazing. even coolies in India wear red.
"“Let’s make some bets — Those creating the most hoopala about #sanasafinaz will be the 1st ppl in line for their lawns!#doublestandards (sic),” tweeted Chinoy, the documentary filmmaker. "
Seriously Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy? You're just as bad. Maybe if you weren't so busy shooting documentaries with simplistic, made-for-the-West narratives you would see that there are people who have access to the internet and the will to make their voices heard who do not live (by necessity or choice) the same lifestyle that you do. Just saying.
Yeah, thanks Safinaz Munir, but I carry my own bags, and I don't have a driver. So park your ad hominem justifications, which only reveal how out of touch you are. There are more conscientious people out there than the ones you chose to interact with.
seems theres no nee dfor Isanis and Taha's to come with their excuses and get lawn loyalty joras from SS !! every one did their job well in comments
Im pleasantly suprised that our public found this campaign socially unacceptable, Its about time we broke the class barriers and made sure this kind of divide will not be tolerated , bless the poor coolies though and Ms Munir please atleast have the grace to apologise rather than defend your mistake, its funny how well travelled or educated some people may be their caved mentality remains unchanged specially if it does not benefit them.
@Me: Precisely u think it's a win win situation but did you manage to skip the part where the coolies were given 600 as opposed to the 10k they were promised or assigned to in their litigations? Now where did all that money dissaoear off as it trickled down from the CEO to the people who worked for it? Earning extra bucks is perfectly fine but while your selling lawn as if it was gold even if it was a paunchy avatar ( ur brand name will do it) but please pay due credence. They deserve that as well as u mint money off the lawn frenzy which captures the nation's heart. Let's just say it's the new humsafar for ladies ...please do give these coolies their deserved money.
Guys just step out of this boycott bandwagon cum DPC... This is just an ad, these guys are meant to fabricate a concept for the masses, this happens all the time in the era we live in. Don't judge them as your political leaders. . I don't know from where Sami did his photoshop course from, but these photographs were taken together (read what ilyas says about the model). Most probably with plenty of dodges/burns and lighting setups for the model to stand out.
these suits will sell from rupees ...5000 upwards hmmm ...penetrate in the masses ????
Whats the big deal ? I fail to understand !!!
If they keep their prices affordable and the products still quality then they would not need to spend shooting campaigns with coolies to convince the masses that they can also buy it.
Displaying Louis vuitton and Hermes and lowering their prices doesn't go together! Nor buying it!
Typical ET elitist, burger, disconnected from reality news report.
well the title "how uncoolie" says it all...nevertheless what else to expect from these burger designers.
this type of marketing is really distasteful and shows a very bad image of this brand..
If the prices are supposed to be low why the LV bag?
Is this for real? Chopping down even half os Sana safinaz lawn the prices would still cater to the upper middle class n here they are showing coolies? maybe possible when baba tuktuk improvises his style...
"The purpose was that Sana Safinaz is trying to lower their prices and penetrate the masses. So we’ve shown Neha sitting on the floor and mingling with them"
Yeah right. There was no mingling with the coolies. They were simply used as PROPS.