With rising costs of basic necessities, other products which are categorized as “not so necessary,” such as expensive clothes, are taking the back seat. But it appears that fashion brands are oblivious to these shifts in the economy. Why? Because they seem to churn out products that are categorized as affordable but are way out of the average Pakistani woman’s league.
On one hand, we have Generation, which has always prided itself for being inclusive and affordable and on the other, we have Elan, a high-street fashion brand which most people love from afar.
Generation, with their latest campaign featuring teachers, has gotten a few things wrong. For starters, people are unhappy with the prices. The joras are priced between Rs 6500 – 9000. Most school teachers in the country, including those who work in private schools, earn up to Rs 40,000 a month. Given the rising costs of basic necessities, it is unlikely that teachers will have any money left over to splurge on such items.
Social media users also thought the same and many of them commented on Generation’s posts, asking them to rethink their prices and offer discounts to teachers.
When we contacted Generation for their response on the social media backlash, they commented, “We kicked off August with our “Back to College” campaign and the shoot in question, was its extension.”
“Inspired by the nostalgia of college and the fact that a huge part of our customer base is from the teaching profession, we shot the campaign with Naveed Anjum, a college professor herself-who is a regular customer of GENERATION and who herself chose the clothes for this shoot. The blackboard, chalk and the old-school feel of the visuals served to evoke memories of good old classroom days with the teachers who shaped our present.”
They added, “Our casual product price ranges from Rs 1,500 to 9,000 and we chose one of the more sober collections featuring three-piece suits which ranges from Rs 6000 to 9000 but perhaps price should have been centre stage in deciding which collection to feature for the teacher segment. We’ll be more mindful of these things in the future.”
A balanced and well-curated response as one would expect, given their up-to-date marketing and PR teams.
Meanwhile, Khadija Shah of Elan came under fire after she took to Twitter to announce that she is introducing an “unstitched wedding season collection” which will be priced between Rs 18,000 and Rs 20,000.
The trolling that Khadija received, after her tweet, had no end. People called her out for being an elitist who lives in her own bubble.
At the same time, several people stepped forward to defend Khadija.
Khadija also tried to reason and explain the logic behind the high prices. She said that because of the depreciating rupee, the cost of raw materials and production has increased.
When the trolling increased, Khadija hit back saying that she is not forcing anyone to buy these.
