Advertising or Terrorizing?

I was very surprised this morning when I read a post on the blog of  Unspun (http://theunspunblog.com) titled: "Coffins delivered to your doorstep: effective viral campaign or bad taste?".

Unspun said that he received a coffin, measuring about a meter in length, delivered by an ambulance to his office. The person delivering it said that there would be an event on June 9th. The coffin was painted brown with the word R.I.P above. Below it was Unspun's name and address. Inside were some flower petals and a rose, with a label attached that read on one side: “You are number: #4444″ and on the other side “www.restinpeacesoon.com.”  But the when he visited the site he found “under construction sign.”

The senders have also been active on Twitter with the handle @restinpeacesoon. They sent Unspun a message “Death is the surest calculation that can be made”
 
Later in the afternoon various TV stations reported that similar coffins were delivered to several mass media like Okezone, Detik.com, Kompas.com, The Jakarta Post, RCTI, SCTV, ANTV etc. And the person behind those coffins delivery was Sumardi MA the boss of Buzz & Co. an advertisement company. The coffins were part of his strategy to launch his book : " Rest In Peace Advertising : The World of Mouth Advertising. "

The Police has raided the office of Buzz & Co, and questioned Sumardi for delivering those coffins.

Considering that Coffin is a symbol of death for normal people and only used when people died, therefore the delivery of those coffins without mentioning the sender's clear identity would surely shock or even scare the recipients.. The impact would be very fatal if the recipient has heart problems.

Photo: Courtesy of Unspun.

The Campaign Carries On

Last Sunday, campaign for the general election has ended, and based on the General Election Law 10/2008, 38 political parties will go through a cooling down period before the general election on Thursday, 9 April 2009. During which, they are not allowed to do and/or say things which can be regarded as campaign.

However, it seems that the above law is only obeyed in real world, but not in the virtual world. According to Tempointeraktif, someone has opened a site in the social networking media Facebook titled Say No!!!” to Megawati, which until yesterday 10 am, has been supported by 64,188 people.
And at the same time, there is also a site titled Say No to Prabowo, which was supported by 751 people. Note: when I checked one hour ago the supporters has jumped to 3,068 people.

The strange thing is that there is another site which is contradictory to both sites, titled: Say Yes to SBY, which was supported by 5,185 people. Note: when I write this post the number has jumped to 116,286 people.

Further, Kompas reported that the “Say “No!!! to Megawati site was banned by Facebook on Tuesday, 7 April, 1 am, when its supporters have reached a total of 97,177 people.
However, this action did not stop the Anti Megawati campaign, because a similar site titled SAY NO TO MEGAWATI which until today noon has been supported by 4,071 people. Note: when write this post the number has jumped to 13,774 people.

Considering the cooling down period from 6 to 8 April, I hope that all parties participating in the general election on 9 April would refrain from saying and/or doing things which would offend other parties. And I also hope that they do not get easily offended by statements made by unclear people in the internet. That way peace and order can be maintained, and the majority of our people can live in peace

Election Cooling Down Period

The open Election Campaign conducted by 38 Political Parties from 16 March to 5 April 2009 will surely create great tensions among them and their supporters, which in the end will have frightening impact on our society in facing the general election on 9 April 2009.

Considering this fact and in compliance with the General Election Law No. 10/2008, after the campaign period ended, there will be a cooling down period from 6 to 8 April, before the voters go to the ballots. During this cooling down period, all political parties and their members are not allowed to do any action which can be considered as campaign. Beside that, according to The Jakarta Globe, the print and broadcast media, are not allowed to run news stories, advertisements, records of the political parties and its members, or other forms of publicity that would benefit or damage the parties.
Moreover, public opinion survey (Poll) are also banned from publishing survey results during the period. Violating that rule carries up to Rp 12 million equivalent to US$ 1,008.00 in fines. An association of survey firms has filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court to annul that article and several other related articles.

As an eligible voter, I can understand that the rule regarding the above cooling down period is intended to calm down the public. However, I think that announcement of Poll Survey during the cooling down period can be acceptable provided that they are conducted by institutions which have high credibility, reliability & good reputation.