KARACHI: The viral “Wow Grape” meme that originated from a Pakistani school in Saudi Arabia will be auctioned as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) at the end of September, as its owner pledged to donate proceeds for survivors of the devastating floods that have ravaged the South Asian country.
The meme, which shot to Internet fame in 2020, came from a clip taken during an event in 2010 at the Pakistan International School Jeddah, which showed students pledging their allegiance to Pakistan by speaking to a microphone held by the school’s then-principal, Sehar Kamran, who at one point sounded like she had responded by saying “grape,” when she had said “great.”
Kamran, a former Pakistani parliamentarian, told Arab News on Friday that she decided to auction the popular meme as an NFT in the wake of the widespread devastation caused by historic monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan, which has killed at least 1,208 people, submerged one-third of the country, and affected 33 million people.
“I decided to go for the auction. I will contribute exactly what will be my share to this cause, to rehabilitate the people,” Kamran told Arab News on Friday.
“I see devastation in front of me. I belong to Sindh and the magnitude of the destruction caused by the floods is so high so we have to take care of our areas.”
Most of the country’s south, particularly the Sindh and Balochistan provinces, has been most affected by the unprecedented floods, which Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said was costing Pakistan more than $10 billion in damages.
Kamran said the rehabilitation of the flood survivors will become Pakistan’s next main focus after the conclusion of relief efforts.
The former headteacher said that turning the meme into an NFT will also raise awareness about the trendy digital assets.
The “Wow Grape” meme had over 63 million combined views on video-sharing platform TikTok, where it had initially gained traction in 2020.
“Memes have a specific cultural value when it comes to the Internet because they are really native to the Internet,” Zain Naqvi, co-founder of content and storytelling platform Alter, told Arab News.
“I think it’s a great step overall if more memes from Pakistan, or South Asia in general, or other emerging economies are up for sale because it helps the creators.”
As NFTs are still relatively new in Pakistan, the country still has some way to go when it comes to the legislation surrounding digital assets.
“Speaking of its legalization, there is still a gray area when it comes to Pakistan. We can look at nations such as (in) the Middle East. The UAE is doing some amazing initiatives when it comes to (the) owning of digital assets,” he said.
With Kamran’s consent, the “Wow Grape” NFT auction on Sept. 30 will be conducted in collaboration with the software development company Maqssoft.
“A large portion of global wealth now lies with cryptocurrency owners. We wanted to leverage our technical expertise in the field and connections with international NFT investors to tap into this segment and play our role in raising funds for rehabilitation efforts,” Maqssoft co-founderm Mohammed Abubakar Mourigem told Arab News.
“We also hope to motivate other people that even with limited resources, you can come up with out-of-the-box solutions and use technology to do good in society.”
