Dutch television networks aired a new show tonight; The Big Donor Show. Main idea behind it was that a 37-year-old woman suffering from an inoperable brain tumor wants to donate a kidney before she dies and will choose the recipient from among three contestants on Dutch national television, a TV network said Tuesday, claiming it wants to highlight a crisis in organ donations. Really tasteless, since Dutch people could send text messages to vote for one of the three contestants.

The show got a LOT of media attention - few highlights:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe...idney.show.ap/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6699847.stm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/W...ow/2081481.cms
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/sto...090151,00.html

The show turned out to be a hoax. The terminally ill woman was in fact a very healthy actress and the three contestants (who do have a kidney disease and who are waiting for a donor) were in this scheme as well.

I haven't seen the show itself, but after seeing how much it stirred up -both nationwide, but also internationally- I'd say it has been a success. I haven't seen so many debates on registering yourself as a donor or not as I've seen in this last week. And also, the show made it very clear how many patients are waiting for a donor kidney and how long those waiting lists are.

What do you think? Brilliant media plan or just plain tasteless?