In the midst of the invasion of mosquitoes that plagues the province of Buenos Aires (and much of the country) and the escalation of repellent prices due to the economic crisis, an ingenious merchant found a solution with tinges of Creole liveliness: he offers loose insecticide.
Maxi Lemos, 41, went viral on social media by offering a unique and unusual alternative in his store in the town of Azul (province of Buenos Aires): "There's Off loose, $500 the application (front and back)!" Perhaps a new trend to reduce costs.
The photo of the poster with the proposal went viral on social media. Users at first commented that it was a joke, with a doctored photo. But it was then that the creator of the idea appeared and told what led him to make that decision.
In an interview with La Cielo radio, Maxi explained how he came up with the idea to combat the difficulty that many people face in paying for expensive repellents: "With the crisis, many people find it difficult to pay for it, so we look for a way back." The proposal includes a special 2-for-1 offer for $800.
Blue, you wouldn't understand pic.twitter.com/JoeuuLPygY
— Francisco 🫡 (@Francisco_boca9) January 8, 2024
"It happened that a lot of people took the Off and left it, I started chatting to see what would happen and it occurred to me to sell it loose," he said.
Regarding the prices, the merchant gave details of his promo that has up to a 2x1: "$500 paying in cash and we can make the promo of two for $800". Regarding the values of repellents, he specified: "I have the small cream one at $5,300; aerosol for $6100,9 and the spray, which is the one I apply, is $500,<>."
The new offer of this Azul store is within a national context in which it is not only affected by a "mosquitada", as it is called in Cordoba, but also occurs in the midst of a shortage of repellents.
Well people, this is the owner of the Premises, thank you very much to everyone who interacted, he is also very grateful. Hopefully it sells 1 million off. https://t.co/eyIDk1tVJr pic.twitter.com/yKBUJBrqqx
— Francisco 🫡 (@Francisco_boca9) January 9, 2024
Leading manufacturers, such as OFF!, explained to Clarín that the unusual demand caused by the mosquito plague led to shortages at the point of sale. They promise to normalize supply in the coming weeks.
With regard to import problems affecting supply, some sources indicate delays in the arrival of inputs needed for the manufacture of repellents, further complicating the situation. Meanwhile, Chinese supermarkets, which stayed out of the "fair prices" policy, have a few bottles of repellent, albeit at high prices.
The question on everyone's mind is when the mosquitoes will leave. Biologist Sylvia Fisher, a researcher at Conicet and director of the Mosquito Study Group at the Faculty of Exact Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires, predicted to this newspaper that the situation should improve in a week to ten days, despite the uncertainty about the normalization of the supply of repellents.