The provincial government of Punjab in Pakistan appears to have made a mistake with vaccination advertisement that seems to be inappropriate. A distasteful advertisement for the government’s vaccination awareness drive contained an image of late legendary TV actor Qazi Wajid. Usually, the brands use celebrities in awareness campaigns to imply that these celebrities use and recommend their products. Perhaps this was the reason why the Punjab government faced the backlash as Qazi Wajid was no more alive.
Such mistakes regarding Covid-19 are not new for PTI’s government. Pakistani Minister for Climate Change, Zartaj Gul Wazir, also made serious factual errors, saying that coronavirus was called COVID-19 because it had 19 points.
Does Government Want to Know When Qazi Wajid Died?
The legend passed away in 2018 at the age of 87. Reportedly, he was suffering from heart palpitations before admitting to the hospital. Members of opposition parties have questioned PTI’s knowledge of legendary figures in Pakistan.
Late Qazi Wajid was one of Pakistan’s radio industry pioneers, working for nearly 25 years. Later he decided to switch careers in 1967, the year in which TV was officially introduced to Pakistan. He appeared in his first TV series called Aaj Ka Shair, which was related to Urdu poetry. Soon after he starred in another popular serial of the time, Khuda ki Basti.
How Punjab Administration Pulled it off?
The public has trolled the government officials by sharing pictures of these posters on social media. According to the reports, the administration realized its mistake soon to prevent further embarrassment. Lahore Commissioner, Muhammad Usman, took action by ordering the removal of all flexes and apologizing to the deceased actor’s family.
Meanwhile, District Coordinator Lahore, Mudassar Riaz Malik blamed the vendor for accidentally placing the picture of Qazi Wajid on vaccine awareness ads. People were so angry because, besides officials, not even workers, putting up the flexes realized the significant mistake.
This just seems like a controversy similar to the one created by a confusing statue of Allama Iqbal in Lahore park.
Why there are no Living Actors on the Ad?
This whole incident attracted a lot of criticism and raised questions for the PTI government. Some wondered why the government couldn’t use the images of celebrities that were alive. Some of the celebrities in Pakistan have actually received their Covid vaccination shots. If they appeared in an awareness poster, it might have worked much more effectively than the posters, which reignited the pain for the deceased actor’s family and fans.
The incident led some people to wonder if alive celebrities were even approached for this campaign. Others thought that celebrities might not be interested or available for this campaign while some opined that they could be too costly, which is why the government probably went with the cheaper option, without bothering to learn what it was.
Also Read
