There has been an uproar on social media after a woman found the Skittles ‘Pride Edition’ on a store shelf in Karachi.
A user posted a screenshot of Skittles pack with “During Pride only one rainbow matters,” written over it in a public Facebook group.
Her post has generated a debate around celebrating pride month and has raised the question whether consuming the products is an endorsement of LGBTQ rights
“I saw these Skittles ‘Pride Edition’ at a supermarket,” she wrote. “I complained that they should learn what pride and rainbow stands for and remove these packs. They took these off the shelf but as I went to the other side, they had kept one back. I inquired and they said ma’am we have taken the stock off the shelf. Then they took that one packet away too,” she added.
She continued by saying, “I am a frequent customer, so as I went there a 2nd time after that, I saw the packets again. I called the manager and repeated my concern. He went away and came back finding me and said please share if you have a link about this. Another lady complained too but she did not have any link so she went away. I searched on Google and let him note down the link.”
“An hour ago, I casually visited a 3rd time and saw the packets again. I complained to the manager of that shift. I said I complained twice before and these are still on the shelf which mostly attracts kids and teenagers. Also this is against Islam, and we live in Pakistan and not in the west. I’ll post this complaint online now. He was like ‘krdain ap’ (go ahead). He went away and came back finding me, and asked if I had a link, AGAIN.”
“I said this happened the last time too. I am not providing links again n again. You have a phone. Search it. (As I had understood they were only bluffing by asking for a link every time).”
“He searched ‘Pride Edition’ as written on the pack. And said nothing as such appeared on Google. I asked him to search Pride month. And he said yes it shows what you are saying but on the pack it does not say pride month but pride edition. Face palm?”
“I read the text on it which referred to ‘rainbow’ the symbol of pride/lgbtq. He said but when I search Pride Edition it does not show anything. I told him he was playing with technicalities. He was like I can tell you the same.”
“They are acting like they live in stone age! I hadn’t named their mart in my previous post but after multiple complaints and explanation of the subject, they are keeping this on their shelf, exposing kids and teens.”
“Qoum e loot was destroyed due to g*yism and now these things are just normally lying on our shelves?” she concluded in her post.
Pride month is celebrated from June 1 to June 30.
