Safar Badnamah, Season 1, Episode 12; “Death, Disgust & Billboards . . . I’m not completely lovin it!”
These days roads are too crowded to leave an individual in a sane condition but when you pass by billboards you are sure to get attracted towards them.
For instance, there is this billboard by McDonald’s that I can’t take my eyes off every day as the bus passes through Allah wala round about; it’s about some relief funds for flood victims and the execution strategy is just awesome. They have a magnified picture of victims, few of the most beautiful children they picked up for the billboard with the brilliant line; “Let’s drain out the ‘L’ from FLOOD to make it food!” What a beautiful mind that would have thought out such a creative line . . .
Then as we go towards Nursery flyover there is another billboard by McDonald’s again that says, ‘McDonald’s ki Iftari Sub Pey Bhari!’ For some reason it reminds me of the wall chalking we get to see with the so called famous tag line, ‘Aik Zardari Sub Pey Bhari!’ And it’s most probably coming from the same mind that thought about the ‘Kiya cheez hai’ campaign . . . how cheap, that cheese (cheez) seemingly had two meanings.
Anyway the picture of their delicious meal really makes you want to have it but it seems way too much, I’m content with their Happy Meal, it’s more than enough and their toys too are amazing at times.
Talking about this brand makes me recall their Eid Campaign in India which I chanced upon a few days ago . . . in simple words it explains you without words what real creativity is . . . have a look.
Their creative agency is Leo Burnett, New Dehli while the copywriter is Rondeep Gogoi and Art work is by Sumonto Ghosh. What could have been more creative than this for a fast food chain?
So this was the interesting stuff but what I encountered later after Dou Talwar was awful . . . it was death and disgust and extremely sad. As I got off the bus and went past the petrol pump I accosted the same dead kitten on the barrier that I saw a day before but the poor thing was rotting even more compared to the last time I saw it . . . and just before that barrier there was a bird at the corner of the road throwing up something it had realized it couldn’t take in! EWE! It just threw up!My observation is not disgusting it’s just what I saw while I was trying to cross the road with eyes wide open . . . For a person who throws up at the sight of Altaf Hussain’s picture shared on Facebook this was way too much to relax myself from puking away!
I finally crossed the road and took a turn towards the street adjacent to Jesus n Mary. There was a test of my fasting lying right infront of me . . . yes . . . another dead kitten but with it’s head gone, it had almost flattened on the road. It made me jump and I tried my best to refrain my Sehri from regurgitating into my throat and wind pipe . . . yes larynx (something I remember from O’Levels Biology). WHY? Why did I have to see all this today? This was all extremely sad . . . such tragedy gives you goose bumps but unfortunately we have live humans being chopped off these days.
It’s difficult to see an animal in this condition and I can’t even imagine a human being let to decay in a condition worst than this which is becoming inevitable these days . . . People are becoming more of butchers and less of humans . . .
I took deep breaths and walked on . . . I finally entered 100 and saw our very own healthy cat . . . rather obese cat . . . waiting to be patted before the Strategic Management class . . . yeah mate? :P
Somebody got relaunched after 20 years . . . Pakistan has changed and this seems to be a major change when you return after these 20 years . . . Hmmmm . . .
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