They wanted to show the freedom girls should have in Pakistan. To promote the message "women should do what they want," a group of Pakistani female dancers performed a flash mob on the streets of Lahore. But the idea has backfired.
A flash mob video of five women wearing fashionable and modern Pakistani clothes has created a huge controversy in the Muslim-majority country. The video shows that they encounter a typical episode of street harassment and then break out into an impromptu dance session to express themselves in a public space that’s normally off-limits to women, according to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
But not many people were impressed by the video, which was published last week. It has been reported that some of the participants and organizers of the flash mob received threats.
The creators of Anarkali flashmob are now getting death threats. Wow. Just wow. #SalaamPakistan #ReliableSource
— Junaid Akram (@june_aid) September 8, 2016
Pretty horrible how typical Pakistani awaam responded to #DYOT. Those girls wanted to do something brave. And now they’re being threatened.
— Mahwash Ajaz (@mahwashajaz_) September 8, 2016
Women dancing and having fun in the streets isn’t wrong, women bringing other women down is. #DYOT
— Fahhad Rajper (@FahhadRajper) September 7, 2016
It emerges that the flash mob was an advertisement for a clothing company that encourages women to “do your own thing (DYOT).” It was filmed on a busy street in Lahore’s Anarkali district. However, the brand has removed the video after social media backlash by conservatives. A copy of the video still available on YouTube:
Many people posted their comments on Twitter about the video using #DYOT and #DoYourOwnThing hastags. Hira marked it as one of the most worse videos she has ever seen:
Ruling the world by dancing on the street? Like seriously? #DYOT
Worst thing i saw today.— Hira (@hiraaaz) September 6, 2016
Pakistani mainstream newspapers also covered the topic intensively. Here’s one of the tweets that analyze the video:
We ask the brand behind the viral video for their take on the issue https://t.co/mGlcZnbL2Y #DYOT #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/l5osmyGIpf
— Images (@dawn_images) September 7, 2016
What do you think of the flash mob? Write your comments below.
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