Buying fish 101 — ensure the freshness of the fish by means of checking its eyes. It must have clear, shiny and bulging orbs. One seafood shop in Kuwait, however, tried to trick buyers who apply the check-eyes-first technique, passing off the fish they sell as fresh by sticking googly eyes on them.
A video of a woman discovering the googly eye on the fish she bought from the store circulated in social media on Friday, Aug. 31. In the video, the hand of the woman wearing plastic gloves was inspecting the fish. Not long after, she can be seen removing the googly eye to reveal a sunken and cloudy eye — indicating that the fish was not as fresh as she first thought it was.
The store was shut down by the country’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry not long after the video went viral, as reported by local newspaper Al Bayan last Saturday, Sept. 1.
وزارة التجارة تغلق محلا لبيع الأسماك يضع عدسات مزيفة للأسماك لتبدو على انها طازجة! pic.twitter.com/RCj7roilWT
— جريدة البيان الإخبارية (@Bayan_kw) September 1, 2018
Unsurprisingly, netizens found the news humorous, inspiring numerous witty remarks. One Twitter user thinks that what the shop did was “a great idea,” and something which can be applied on his/her future business.
https://twitter.com/Chicken_Nugent/status/1036216682862309377
Another netizen, Padraig Belton, appears to be looking up to the fish vendor, calling the vendor “my personal hero for today.”
My personal hero for today is the Kuwaiti fishmonger who got done for sticking googly eyes on fish to make them look fresher. pic.twitter.com/44l32a1TTR
— Pádraig Belton (@PadraigBelton) September 1, 2018
Of course, netizen reactions will not be complete without laugh-worthy fish-related puns.
“Well this certainly looks fishy. I hope they go to court and are found gill-ty,” podcast comedian M’BlockU (@rodimusprime) said.
https://twitter.com/rodimusprime/status/1035986956692480001
“Yeah this is a full-scale scam” another netizen, C.E. Little (@ItsMrLittle) replied.
https://twitter.com/ItsMrLittle/status/1035987339741409280
Other Twitter user joined in on the fun, supplying their own fish puns.
https://twitter.com/ThinkrEdible/status/1036035834133323778
https://twitter.com/paulfarris25/status/1036031162127450113
Boycott the store! There’s other fish in the sea.
— Tamarra The Aries (@T_monster) September 2, 2018
Meanwhile, some were not amused by the fact that the woman was tricked into buying the supposedly fresh fish with googly eyes.
u cannot be telling me that a person who’s smart enough to identify how fresh a fish is according to it’s eyes can’t seem to tell the difference between a real fish eye and googly eyes JFJFJFMMSKDJD https://t.co/7kWGg6K0pi
— ѕopнια (@alyssamartinus) September 2, 2018
Just read the headline that a store was caught putting googly-eyes on fish to make them look fresher. Whoever fell for that deserved to have their money taken away.
— Meagan (@CynicalMeggie) September 2, 2018
One netizen, Matthew Dalby, relayed an “important lesson” for fish buyers.
Never judge the freshness of fish by the googliness of their eyes. https://t.co/hW50lwpwCz
— Matthew Dalby (@MatthewJDalby) September 1, 2018
“Never judge the freshness of fish by the googliness of their eyes.” JB
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