The Big Donor Show

So it's come to this: On Friday June 1st the Dutch television network BNN aired a reality show called "The Big Donor Show." In it, three contestants who were badly in need of a kidney transplant were interviewed by a terminally ill cancer patient named Lisa. By the end of the show, Lisa would choose one of the three to receive her kidneys following her impending death.

Outrage was, in part, cataloged in this BBC article. But what's astonishing about this story is that, in the end, BNN revealed the entire show to be a hoax. It was a ploy to raise awareness about the shortage of organs in the Netherlands, and it seems to have worked. So while many communication researchers are skeptical of the idea of direct media effects (apart, of course, from "War of the Worlds"), certain discrete media events do seem to change attitudes and raise awareness.

It remains to be seen if the program will have any lasting effects on public policy in the Netherlands. But for now, it appears people there are talking about organ donation like never before, which is undoubtedly the first step in getting more people to sign on as donors.

I should also add that, as of tonight, a Google search of "the big donor show" returns the above BBC article as the top hit... so while politicians and the media were mesmerized by the moral implications of deciding life or death on live television, they seem much less entranced by the real issue at hand.

You can hear the story on this week's On The Media from NPR (click here for a direct link to the MP3 file). There's also a good article from the New York Times here.