A fantastic stunt?

mani · 02-06-2007, 06:20

I'd heard about this program before hand on the radio and thought trust the dutch to come up with this having come up with big brother... but this was just a brilliant twist. it did what it set out to do - bringing the subject of organ donation to the front...

A Dutch TV contest which purported to show a dying woman choose a patient to receive her kidneys was a hoax. The "donor" in the show was in fact an actress - though the three people vying for an organ were real patients in need of a kidney transplant.
The three knew that The Big Donor Show, which aired on Friday, was not real. The producers say it was made to highlight the shortage of Dutch donors.

"We have only done this cry for help because we want to solve a problem that shouldn't be a problem," a producer told a news conference after the show.
Dutch Education Minister Ronald Plasterk hailed the show as a "fantastic stunt".
Caroline Klingers, a kidney patient who was watching the programme at a treatment centre in the town of Bussum, also praised it.

MargaretR · 02-06-2007, 10:05

It might have been well intended and produced the required publicity but it was still in 'bad taste'

Acrylic-bob · 03-06-2007, 06:39

We were discussing this at work yesterday morning and most people seemed to be agreed that it was a bit subversive and probably in questionable taste but it acheived its aim. However we felt that it opened the door to further examples of shock programming in pursuit of intractable problems. I do not think that it is now too far fetched to conceive of a similar programme aimed at changing the law on assisted suicide where terminally ill contestants compete for our sympathy and the opportunity of a trip to a clinic in Switzerland. It strikes me as the thin end of a very thick wedge.