Pakistani memes that have gained profit over the years

Pakistan is a country with a diverse group of people, who have an even more diverse sense of humor. Thousands of hilarious memes make it on the internet every day, and everyone has an appreciation for each meme format, which they keep bringing back with newer variations each time. Thus, after every event, may it be big or little, making memes over it is a huge part of Pakistani social media culture. These memes can be anything from making fun of a weird dialogue or plotline from a drama, making reaction memes, memes about cricket, or even about our own friends.

One such meme made it big over the internet, and not just in Pakistan, but across the world. Friendship Ended With Mudasir is a Facebook post by Asif Raza Rana, a Pakistani government employee, stating that he was no longer friends with a man called Mudasir. Once the post went viral in September 2015, a whole slew of edited replicas depicting celebrities and fictitious figures labeled with the template “Friendship Ended With X, Now Y is My Best Friend” appeared.

On Facebook, Raza’s post received over 47,000 responses, 56,000 shares, and 27,000 replies. This one image became a huge part of Pakistani meme culture, with millions of different variations which still keep on coming. This meme was then sold as NFT for 20.00 ETH on August 2. The $49,866.40 sale took place on the Foundation, an online platform, which hosts online bids for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Another Pakistani meme that made it big across the globe is that of a cricket fan’s angry reaction in a World Cup match between Pakistan and Australia. This man is Sarim Akhtar, who is now a more popular face in cricket than most, only because his reaction fully represents how each Pakistani feels while watching an infuriating match of cricket.

Sarim Akhtar’s reaction wasn’t unwarranted. In fact, he was reacting this angrily when Pakistan’s Asif Ali had dropped a catch off bowler Wahab Riaz against Australia during the ICC World Cup 2019. The camera focused on Sarim Akhtar at exactly the right moment and ended up giving us this gem of a reaction picture.

This meme too went viral, with many versions of it being recreated, and are still being recreated. Akhtar announced recently on Twitter that he was included in Hong Kong’s meme museum, with this iconic image finding a permanent home there.

Honestly, there is nothing wrong with Pakistani meme culture, as long as it’s making us laugh and also making our country proud with its unique sense of humor and fun-loving people. What do you think?