New Delhi: Pakistani celebrities were all praise for Maryam Nawaz-led government’s 100 days in power, but not ordinary citizens. They are criticising this mass appreciation by celebrities as paid promotion and calling for their boycott.
Several celebrities, including actors Sanam Saeed, Urwa Hocane, singer Aima Beg, and others put out posts on social media, appreciating the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government’s efforts. It backfired when, instead of applause, they faced a chorus of criticism. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), too, was not far behind and decided to cash in on the disapproval.
The Maryam Nawaz-led Punjab government has been facing criticism for corruption and inefficiency for some time now. Farmers have been protesting over “wheat scam” and blasphemy killings, among others.
Questioning loyalties
Pakistanis are ‘disappointed’. They don’t know what is worse for their superstars. With Saeed posting celebratory posts for the PML(N) on social media and Fawad Khan choosing to make his big screen comeback with a Bollywood movie, they are having a hard time understanding their loyalties.
One X user tweeted, “Sanam Saeed doing paid promotion for PMLN and celebrating 100 days of Maryam Nawaz (SS doesn’t even live in Punjab) and Fawad Khan back to working in India. What a downgrade for our ‘superstars’. Extremely disappointing.”
Most celebrities put out posts on social media with the hashtag #Khidmatke100din, listing the government’s achievements. Saeed was called “a disappointment” for promoting a “fascist government”.
Pakistanis are now calling out the celebrity-led promotion of “a selector boot polishia Nagin Maryam Nawaz”. Others want a “public apology” from these celebs or to risk facing a complete boycott.
“PMLN is completely exposed here! Influencer marketing plans have backfired. Now celebrities are deleting their videos after realising their blunder of supporting the fascists,” tweeted Imran Khan’s PTI.
Influencer Junaid Akram faced criticism following his YouTube vlog for the Punjab government. PTI supporters highlighted disparities between claimed achievements and actual conditions, urging their followers to boycott influencers involved in the campaign.
Actor Bilal Qureshi further escalated the situation by disclosing he had been solicited for a paid promotional effort and shared a screenshot of the proposal.
PTI had a field day
For a day, PTI had its priorities sorted. The party then ran a hashtag #MandateThieves on its social media handles, calling out the government.
“I think the 100 day digital campaign was a good exercise. At least people now know that you can’t buy your way to positive sentiment on social media. No amount of paid promotion can sell a product the consumer doesn’t like,” podcaster Muzamil Hasan tweeted.
Pakistanis are now busy calculating how much public money was spent on this promotion.
Hasan further added, “Based on my experience and total no. of people engaged, I would guess btw 20-30 mil + agency fees. Could be more, most people wouldn’t have taken it unless it was paying a crazy premium because everyone would’ve expected the backlash so would’ve wanted to make it worth it.”
Journalist Moeed Pirzada, too, questioned the celebrities’ posts, calling them out for choosing to indulge in political posts after claiming to be ‘apolitical’.
Amid the backlash, most actors switched off their comments section. In a long response to the criticism, Hocane said that she is still apolitical and just chose to support women-led initiatives.
Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz shared posters of 100 days of Punjab government and talked about new initiatives like Maryam ki Dastak in the Punjab Assembly.