NISHANT RATNAKAR forwards an email received by him, with this post-script: “Modern day reality. One man’s tragedy is a businessman’s new revenue model.”
***
From Pradeep Kumar
I got this message on my mobile from Airtel service
[VOICE YOUR OPINION!]
I feel Bob Woolmer‘s death is:
A: Suicide B: Murder C: Natural Death.
SMS your answer (Eg C) to 64646 at Re.1.
[Win Gold Coin through lucky draw.]
“They have made a joke out of the old man’s death.”
***
Cell phone operators, in association with a variety of companies (including newspapers and television channels) are using “Short Code” to mint millions, often without the knowledge of the subscriber. They have even resisted Supreme Court strictures calling for a ban on the use of short code. But should they be making money over the body of dead man?
churumuri 
Well this can happen only in INDIA . Its highly condemnable .
WTF is our communication ministry doing ?
People have to take METTU and hit them RAPA RAPA until they close their
service inthadhnella BITTU .
These people will rake in MONEY even if it is in CRAP . How can they benefit out a dead man .
People should launch a campaign …KP can you initiate we can be signatories for the effort ?
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Let us condemn this kind of marketing!!!
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we strongly condem.
stop it, TRAI can say
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so, you guys are opposed to the way airtel is minting money out of it (sour grapes). i have two (ok, four) words for you – ‘usa’ and ‘anna nicole smith’.
– s.b.
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I don’t mind the poll. But I object to, “[Win Gold Coin through lucky draw.]”
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disgusting.. :x
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For the sake of argument (yeah yeah I know I seem to be getting into a few of them on here), how is this any different from any poll on any news item probably where people have died? Is this so condemnable only because it is high profile? The TV news channels too have polls on this bomb blast, or that Maoist attack where scores of people die. Why single out cell phone operators?
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Let’s do a poll on this poll…
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@gokulam
doing polls is one thing(already bad enough), but doling out prizes over someone’s dead body is disrespectful, uncouth and disgusting to say the least.
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Everything is commercial these days and death too can be exploited in a most cynical way. Death is celebration time to Airtell, a telling comment on their business ethics
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Grieve not so much the passing away of Bob Woolmer because his soul has surely sailed past the Pearly Gates to be in tranquil rest.
Shed a tear for the sheer shamelessness and thoughtlessness of the marketing mind; the uncaring, insensitive and completely inhuman methods of drawing out the last moolah.
The despicably scavenging corporate vultures that swoop down even on the dead body of their mothers, riding the air currents of the melancholic despair of even a funereal setting.
Airtel should apologise to the nation for having let us down by the crassness and the sickening opportunism exhibited by its marketing wing, without an iota of sobriety and dignity in the face of tragedy.
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Sunaad has expressed his outrage beautifully. Airtel ought to be ashamed of itself, that’s putting it mildly.
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Yes, it is despicable.
However, lack of sensitivity and greed are universal and not the exclusive domain of Indians. I think we should refrain from “Well this can happen only in INDIA” types of remarks as one of the people have commented here. It is totally unwarranted.
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mettu togondu rapa rapa hodibeku
really true dheerendra gopal
any campaign aganist thiss yes we all
can be signatories. make a try
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Can they Stoop any lower??
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It is totally disgusting – i remember that some people were trying to sell parts of a rocket that had exploded near Texas(i guess its columbia with kalpana chawla) on ebay. This is similar to that.
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A news paper has said SMS stands for Stupid Message Service
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Pingback: ellipsis… » airtel: expressing myself
well….i personally think airtel did not send the sms…..maybe some other 3rd party did it……
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Pingback: ellipsis… » Blog Archive » airtel: expressing myself
I hate all the mother f*****s anyway
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@Born Indian. You are late? No attendance for the day for you!
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