We are past the halfway mark in the month of Ramzan 2015, and soon we will be in the final stretch. This year round, fasting has been particularly challenging because of the adverse heatwaves that have engulfed the country’s plains and coastal areas. Managing through the entire day on an empty stomach with no opportunity to hydrate is difficult and the fast ends up challenging not only the moral rectitude but also the limits of physical endurance for a large segment of the population. Over time though, our bodies adapt to the changing conditions and, before you know it, living through the day becomes much less of an ordeal. The same, however, is not true for people who find themselves at a disadvantaged position because of poverty, malnutrition and similar causes.
Each year, the month of fasting is celebrated with much gusto where the pious and the perverse both try to outdo each other in displays of righteousness. Not to comment on the deeds of other men in matters of faith — since such matters are best left to individuals themselves — there has been an increasingly worrisome trend observable in the month of Ramzan in Pakistan though. This relates to the patterns of consumption in our country during Ramzan, and the way in which companies advertise their products to make full use of the weak-willed to lure them into buying their respective products.
The onset of Ramzan is synonymous with increased demand for perishable food items, as well as a bump in the consumption of other goods such as clothing and accessories in lieu of Eid. Any opportunity to increase sales is, of course, music to the ears of companies that produce related products and, therefore, Ramzan presents a good opportunity for all and sundry to reap profits by increasing sales. Increasing profits is a rational business strategy by itself but the way this is done in Pakistan is what is bothersome.
Marketing agencies leave no stone unturned in sending out subtle cues through ad campaigns that reward increased consumption through imperatives of faith, as the next few lines will demonstrate. Seeing the patterns of our consumption during Ramzan, it makes sense to somehow link the month of fasting with chaste consumerism. Nothing sells like religion in our Islamic republic and if you can somehow coax the consumer into buying products out of necessities of faith and morality, you really could land the jackpot. However, the trickery involved in doing so is gauche to say the least. Marketing companies would have you believe that there is somehow an intrinsic link between consuming a particular product and being blessed.
Given enough marketing budgets, ad men conjure up catchy little trinkets that try to appeal to faith and emotion in equal measure. Commodity consumption is almost a pre-requisite to live in contemporary times so to use religious overtures to garner more sales seems a bit insensitive. If one would just consume that fruit juice, use that company’s cellular connection, don that brand’s clothes, all the while living in a house painted by colours produced by that company, then that particular person would be assured of a blissful hereafter. By this logic, if one could sip on enough fizzy drinks and fry their fritters in a particular brand of oil, then the brands would personally deliver consumers to the gates of deliverance.
And then there are the numerous television shows that hog the airwaves for vast stretches of time leading all the way from sunset and sunrise. On such television shows, the religio-consumerist ethic is on full show where companies pay millions of rupees for marketing through giveaways designed to look competitive and are anything but. Everything from the host’s pocket square to the prizes bear a brand’s name, and faith is rewarded through freebies of a material kind. Interestingly, the nature of the television show changes depending upon the time of day. Leading up to iftar/sunset, you would be hard-pressed to find a single note of music on the airwaves that does not contain pretentious influences of Arabic sounds but half an hour into iftar, jingles and songs make a comeback, and networks do not even bother to put on a gaudy veneer of virtue on their television shows afterwards.
In many ways, the visuals we consume on a daily basis reflect our behaviour in society at large. We are stuck in a vicious cycle of capitalist consumerism that we somehow try to balance out through fake transformations steeped in religious shades throughout the year. This particular crisis is just more evident in the month of fasting where even many media personalities don the cloak of piousness for a day or two just to give their careers a boost. In this way, Ramzan in Pakistan combines the worst of fake devoutness and consumerist attitude.
It is noteworthy to mention here that no one can and should pass judgment in matters of faith but the way we practice double standards in trying to absolve ourselves of a more balanced outlook is troublesome. The times we live in force us to consume more and more every day, and, in such a scenario, faith can sometimes lead to a more composed attitude, which takes into account the demands of society at large as opposed to an individualistic approach. Of course, faith is not the only way this can be achieved but, in our country, it is the most readily available resource in this regard. So when we abandon the collective spirit of Ramzan to cater to more profit-driven approaches without realising that both run counter to each other, the imbalance in our lives is entirely predictable.
The author is a freelance columnist with degrees in political science and international relations