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Every year, when summer approaches, people prepare for many things. They look forward to vacations, eagerly wait for school to be over or even just enjoy their favourite cold beverages with new TV shows at home, however, Pakistani women brace themselves for the most awaited event of that year- lawn sales.
Summers in Pakistan, along with hot winds and humidity, bring a massive amount of lawn sales. Women pause their shopping for a while and patiently sit on their demands till the sale starts and they go crazy. But the past few years showed that these sales not only bring amazing discounts, they also brought huge medical bills for people.
The “lawn sale fiasco” started off when Sapphire announced a 50% sale in 2015. Videos surfaced that showed women fighting it out at their Lahore outlet. With hangers flying and women pulling each other’s hair, the stampede caused multiple injuries to the customers there. Losing their valuable ‘joras’ was unacceptable to these women and they sure fought everyone who came for it. A civil shopping attitude didn’t exist for these women and sadly, accompanying men and staff also got hurt during the madness.
Lahori Aunties going batshit crazy over clothes #SapphirePakistan cc @monadarling @selinarashid pic.twitter.com/T4NA4lldlx
— Godfather IV (@godfatheriv) 27 November 2015
The 2015 scene was the beginning of a series of similar deplorable situations nationwide. The same situation was seen in Karachi and Islamabad outlets as well. Social media was flooded with complains, videos and gifs from these scenes. It was a distressing sight to watch a mob of people line up in the heat outside the stores, even before they opened!
The craze of designer outfits being available in such low prices triggered the ‘do or die’ mentality in people which totally clouded their capability to understand that their bones mean more than a dress! The capability of a sale to create such havoc just goes to show how easily this nation can be manipulated. The same year, in December, an Agha Noor sale took over the headlines of every news channel in Pakistan. On a Blessed/White Friday sale, women burst into the Dolmen City outlet and managed to break the entire door in attempts to get in the store.
This stampede caused more people to pass out and get injured compared to the Sapphire sale. The re-occurrence of the same situation created a layer of anger in the nation and a negative sentiment took over social media about these sales and their designers.
The insanity at annual sales by #Khaadi #sapphire & now #AghaNoor will def. have me disassociate with these brands!
— Marium Arif-Fahad (@mariumarif) 19 December 2015
It was extremely disappointing to see how women lost it and created such a huge mess out of a simple notion. Some people explored the humorous side of it whereas others made sure the companies realize that this is not acceptable. Is it actually worth hurting others and yourself for a few rupees off dresses? Is it a new way for companies to attract customers and stay in the news? Negative attention is also attention, RIGHT?
An inside view of sale at Agha noor Dolmen mall clifton lol 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/MdBQbmkCqX
— Maroof iqbal (@meisdeadlol) 4 November 2017
Recently in 2019, a similar frenzy took place in the pre-booking of Élan lawn suits. This wasn’t even a sale and people fought for hours to get their hands on these suits. There was a 5 hour plus waiting for all customers and later they were told at the counter that their inventory finished. If the wait and fights weren’t enough to make people angry, they denied them any products when they finally reached the counters after giving in their blood and sweat. This was the last straw. People lost it and took to social media to make sure everyone knew what they went through. The launch in Karachi was relatively organized and no scene was created there but Lahoris went ALL OUT ON IT. A video surfaced which showed how women shoved the security aside and jostled through the crowd so they could get the ‘good prints.’ Women rush in the marquee while the guards try to keep the entrance curtain intact and stop it from falling. The stunned face on the security guard is PRICELESS!
Elan lawn exhibition 😀😄😆 pic.twitter.com/6vhzgKCPg2
— Suleman Malik (@sulemanmalik31) 22 March 2019
The creative designer of Élan, Khadija Shah had some things to say about the whole situation. She said the company has no affiliation with the crowd’s behavior and according to her, the whole situation is people’s choice. “Our customers are our pride and joy, They are free to be passionate about what they like. Those who are passing judgment on them should self-reflect,” she added.
She further took to Instagram and posted the following to Elan’s IG story.
