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We all know multinationals have made way to Pakistan and many of us especially young folks like to go and buy their products and feel modern. This is fine too as it is hard to get decent consumer products in Pakistan – they look desi and unattractive. As far as wanting to feel modern is concerned, that makes sense too. People go to McDonalds instead of Bundu Khan Restaurant and feel good to hang out in a place that might as well be the US: clean, well-lit, a little flashy, air-conditioned, and accepting of boy-girl interactions. Here, the concern is not that why you feel modern, but 1). do you know what exactly you are consuming and 2). what happens to your money when you buy a product produced and violently advertised by the multinationals?
Let us take the first concern. Take KFC for example and say you walk into and order a meal. You are offered a decent hamburger in a good looking and open environment. And of course you pay price for all that. Many people, day in and day out, eat at KFC. Do they really know what they are eating? You eat well clothed food without knowing that the chicken you are eating is genetically modified which is religiously and culturally unacceptable in most of the world. KFC, an American venture worldwide, is criminally serving genetically engineered "Chicken" across the world. It is reported that these so-called 'chickens' are kept alive by tubes inserted into their bodies to pump blood and nutrients throughout their structure. They have no beaks, no feathers, and no feet. Their bone structure is dramatically shrunk to get more meat out of them. This is great for KFC because they do not have to pay so much for their production costs. There is no more plucking of the feathers or removal of the beaks and feet. I find this matter to be very disturbing. Consumers have every right to eat culturally and health-wise acceptable food. KFC is using genetically modified chickens without letting its consumers know which is against the law and ethics.
Hence, what is the lesson? This supports the worldwide anxiety that multinationals, at the one hand, are weakening rather eliminating the national commerce and industry, while on the hand, they, through attractive (otherwise shameful) media advertisements coupled with other bulling tactics, are selling sugar quoted inferior quality products and, unknowingly, consumers buy ailments and spoil their hard earned money. This is very true in a country like Pakistan. Have you observed PTV, the only and state owned TV, these days which is completely hijacked by multinationals? The result is that multinationals are successfully inducing their products and meeting their targets at the consumers’ cost by ruining our values, health, money and the young generation (a vital resource and future of the country). Multinationals, are such a determined and resourceful that neither country laws can block them nor the government itself can withstand. There are evidences that multinationals have been influencing our laws and are involved in malpractices i.e. paying government functionaries to knock down trade barriers. Of course we know a resourceful company can do this very easily in Pakistan.
Regarding my second concern that what happens to your money when you buy a product by the multinationals, let us take the KFC again for example. You pay for the KFC meal. The money goes into the KFC cash register. At the end of the day it gets taken out, counted, and then handed over to the manager of the restaurant. He then hands it over to someone else, and eventually, all the money spent on burgers and chicken in Pakistan ends up in a big bank account.
People working at the restaurants, the waiters, cooks, cleaners, managers, etc. get paid. Rent for the buildings gets taken out, bills get paid, so do taxes and all that stuff. But there’s still a lot left over. This leftover is transferred to bank accounts in the US. The people who then get control of this money are those who own the company and those who are helping run it.
You might ask ‘so what’s wrong with this’? Well, lets think about what this means for you and me and all the other people in Pakistan. We spend say 100 rupees at KFC, and out of that 100, 40 goes towards salaries, rent, and all that other stuff. 60 is left over. These 60 rupees then disappear. They fly off across the Atlantic. They might as well not exist anymore.
However, had this 100 been spent at Pappa Sallis or Bundu Khan Restaurant, the leftover 60 rupees would also have gone to the owners of the restaurants. But these people live in Pakistan. They would take these 60 rupees and spend them here. Maybe they are driving along and see a man selling flowers. They decide to spend the 60 rupees on flowers. The 60 – left over from the 100 that you spent – then goes to the flower seller. He does exactly what the Pappa Sallis owner did: he spends it. The man he buys his roti from gets a few rupees of your original hundred. And so it is that your money goes on and on and on, changing hands, giving people an opportunity to spend on what they need just the way you spent, a few days ago, on that meal at Pappa Sallis or Bundu Khan Restaurant.
So think over and over about it. If money keeps disappearing to foreign hands, it means that there will be less to go around here. And that impacts you too, even if you’re comfortable right now and enjoying a well-fed existence. The environment both inside and outside of your home is inextricably linked to how much money is going round. The lesser there is, the fewer the jobs, the greater the poverty, and greater the burdens that afflicts us all.
The only way to contend with multinationals remains that consumers should keep themselves aware and boycott their products present in the market. Take care while going to buy food and other stuff. If you consider what I have just pointed out above and decide on Pakistani products, I assure you that you will see Pakistan a self reliant, sovereign and a prosperous country soon. I hope people will start to realize this and let other people know.
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