It began with a televised address in Iran in celebration of Persian New Year on Tuesday, when Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Iranians to support local products rather than importing from abroad.

Soon afterwards, photos began to emerge on social media of some officials purportedly failing to follow that advice – including Khamenei himself.

A photo of the Supreme Leader apparently getting out of a BMW was liked more than 1,200 times, with some people reposting the image alongside a picture of pre-Islamic Republic Prime Minister Amir-Ab

Some people defended Khamenei over the photo, with one person suggesting that the car may have belonged to the security department and not him.

But others were highly critical, with one person labelling locally-made cars as “junk products”, and another sharing images of badly damaged Iranian cars in response.

Other members of the Khamenei family who came in for criticism include Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the former Speaker of the Iranian Parliament whose daughter married Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.

In one tweet liked more than 700 times, a person shared pictures of Haddad-Adel appearing to buy clothes from a popular British high street shop.

But not everyone was so critical, with some taking the opportunity to praise their preferred Iranian products.

One person used the hashtag to share their purchase of Tabiat tea, while another put together a list of Iranian substitutes for popular foreign products.

Farmand breakfast chocolate for Nutella spread, Shiba pastil for Haribo sweets, and Pars Khazar home appliances for De’Longhi home appliances were three of the suggestions.

Source » bbc