By: Naeem Shamim
A very humorous yet interesting story was unfolded yesterday on the Pakistani electronic and print media. It was about an advertisement campaign of the Punjab Police against Terrorism. An appeal was made public by putting ads in all major English and Urdu dailies in the country. At the end of the advertisement the logo of the Indian Punjab Police was placed next to the words ‘Punjab Police’. As a kneejerk reflex reaction the Chief of Punjab Police appeared on the local media and blamed the printing company involved for the gaffe.
This is not the first time that a lapse of such sort has occurred. Very recently in January this year an Indian advertisement ‘proudly’ featured a former Pakistani Chief of Air Staff alongside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Likewise one more blunder of its kind was witnessed in the summer of 2007 when the giant banners carrying the wrong image of the national flag of a country were put on display in the Pakistani capital. It was for the reception of the Czech prime minister that the authorities in Islamabad used a checkered flag instead of using the Czech national flag.
One can describe all the above mistakes by one magical word, mis-googling. Yes, you mis-google an image, find the ‘wrong’ image and etch it in your design, publish it, the rest will be done by the media experts and bloggers like me!
Well I think that mis-googling can have very grave consequences; especially in a country like Pakistan where people like Zaid Hamid are already on the loose and where the possibility of being accused as an Israeli or an Indian agent is very real.
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