Fishmonger Shut Down For Sticking Googly Eyes On Fish

Jenny Dettrick & Adél Békefi/Moment/Getty Images
By  Gwen Ihnat

Hard to believe anyone was swayed by this, but we have to applaud the creativity involved in this marketing attempt: A Kuwaiti fishmonger was recently shut down for adding googly eyes to fish to make them appear fresher.

The BBC reports that "rival Kuwaiti fish sellers reacted by advertising fresh fish 'without cosmetics' with a picture of a fish and a selection of coloured contact lenses."

According to the website The Spruce Eats, the eyes are windows into a fish's freshness: "Look for bright, clear eyes... for they fade quickly into gray dullness. Dull-eyed fish may be safe to eat, but they are past their prime." Which gives us a motive for this unusual action, but it's still hard to believe that anyone was actually fooled by it. Would hate to see what happened when someone bought a fish, took it home, and had a googly eye fall right off.

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