Saudi youth have launched a campaign called “Change is Chewing Gum” on Facebook to speak out against the growing practice of store owners to offer chewing gum instead of the 50 halala coin. The campaign seeks to preserve the value of coins and check, what it calls, “the greed of supermarkets”, which deprives customers of the 50-halala change. Mashael Al-Shabeeb, faculty member at King Saud University in Riyadh, said the campaign has been lauded by many sections of society, especially those who want to preserve the value of coins in the Saudi currency. When asked about who should be held responsible for this phenomenon of replacing change with chewing gum, Al-Shabeeb said the problem wasn't about giving chewing gum instead of a 50-halala coin, but rather it was about prices. “Most price tags have 50 halalas added. We want traders to change the price and take away the added halalas. We no longer see 50 halala coins.” Al-Shabeeb said the growing problem can be faced everywhere, including supermarkets, pharmacies, grocery stores and malls. “Sometimes cashiers put the chewing gum in your shopping bag without even telling you, and that is really annoying,” she said. “Sometimes they ask if you want to donate the coin to charity,” she complained. “Thus, we're left with no choice but forget about the 50-halala coin.” She said the campaign seeks to raise public awareness about this issue and suggest possible solutions. According to Al-Shabeeb, the goals of the campaign are: n Have the government issue an order banning replacing a coin with a product. n Raise public awareness about the economic importance of coins. n Make coins available in the market. n Fight the greed of some businessmen. n Find a transparent way of donating coins to charity. Saeed Bin Dayel, who designed the slogan of the campaign, said the slogan's message focuses on the national value of coins as a currency. “It's our duty to give more value to our coins. Our coins are not equal to a piece of chewing gum. They shouldn't be treated as if they have a marginal value,” he said. __
