Store Caught Sticking Googly Eyes on Fish to Make Them Look Fresh

When you are shopping for fish, there are important ways to check its freshness. Of course there is the smell test. (Hint: it shouldn’t smell fishy!) And if you’re buying a whole fish, its eyes will tell you everything you need to know. They should be bright and bulging — not cloudy or murky in any way.

In an attempt to pull one over on unsuspecting fish consumers, a store in Kuwait has done something that you would only ever expect to find in an Onion article. It was recently closed down after sticking googly eyes on its fish. And of course it went viral on Twitter when someone realized what was going on.

Kuwaiti police has shut down a fish store that was sticking googly eyes on fish to make them appear more fresh than they are. :-)
via Al Bayan newspaper, @bayan_kw. pic.twitter.com/CcPa73fDQh

— Mohamed El Dahshan (@eldahshan) September 1, 2018

Let’s unwrap this, shall we? First, when you pick up the googly-eyed fish (assuming you haven’t already realized the eyes were fake), wouldn’t you notice them jiggling around? That might give away the ruse. But as one Twitter member pointed out, if you know to check the eyes for freshness, chances are you won’t be fooled by this trick.

The intersection of people who know enough about fish to look at their eyes to judge freshness and people who would be tricked by googly eyes can't possibly be very large?

— Old School Gamer (@OldSchoolGamerP) September 1, 2018

Nevertheless, it is pretty bold and creative to attempt such a thing. Maybe the store should be cut a little slack?

my strongest-held belief is that extremely creative crimes that don't involve maiming another person should be allowed https://t.co/LJlW3oR11F

— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) September 1, 2018

I feel like this should be allowed out of sheer ballsiness.

— Coffee Stout Wench (@spewingllamas) September 2, 2018

As you would expect, Twitter had some fun with the whole thing — fish puns and all:

Well this certainly looks fishy. I hope they go to court and are found gill-ty. https://t.co/aB3fh871WE

— M’BlockU (@rodimusprime) September 1, 2018

Yeah this is a full-scale scam

— C.E. Little, PhD (@ItsDrLittle) September 1, 2018

The next time you’re buying some branzino or snapper for dinner, you might want to confirm that the eyes aren’t moving around at all…