In a very shocking development a young 32 year old person, father of four kids looses his life during the filming of a reality show sponsored by Unilever and being produced by their advertising agency Mindshare. Saad Khan was a game show contestant and the host/model Amina Sheikh, who also is the model of Clear Shampoo, gave an underwater challenge to Saad and during the execution of the stunt he apparently lost control, struggled and pleading for help could not recover, the inadequate safety personal and the equipment could not react in time and eventually he drowned
Saad Khan, 32 year old young man from Karachi and a father of four kids is sadly the victim, his body was returned to Karachi for burial two days back and the infuriated family has been running from pillar to post but it seems for some awkward reason it fails to catch the media attention and apparently no media house is ready to ‘run the story‘. It is a known fact that the media in Pakistan is usually head over heals on every other lame ass political slander, but surprisingly in Saad’s case this case of gross neglect is not worthy of even a short news item. Might this have anything to do with the influence of Unilever and Mindshare who are giant spenders armed with enormous advertisement budgets.
Initially Saad’s family was furious hoping to have Unilever cough up full responsibility, but at the moment they feel that the most important thing to look forward to is the future of Saad’s four kids who have no future.
Aarpix: These details are given by a 2nd cousin of Saad on the condition of anonymity. Saad was 31, 6′2″, handsome man was employed at RBS (formerly ABN AMRO). Saad live a very ambitious and thrilled life. In his professional life, he had accomplished more than his age. He had well established career and didn’t participate for the prize money or anything. He was rather very thrilling and adventurous. He was disqualified from the show after a few days but was then called by the death on a wild card entry.
He did not lose his balance in the water – he was an excellent swimmer but the doctors in Thailand after carrying out an autopsy told that his muscle had pulled and he had some weight tied up to his feet as part of the challenge and so could not make it back up. He was under water for about 6 minutes.
Saad has left a widow and 4 kids: Oldest one is 7 years old, then twins of age 5.5 and then the youngest who is only 1.5 years of age.
While this story is slowly making its way around, it seems that some serious counter efforts were made against Farhan Janjua of Aarpix, who first broke the story, WebHostingPad suddenly issued Aarpix a short notice disabling his website for “nature of content” [do have a look at Aarpix and see if you find any objectionable material] they then told Farhan to quickly move his data with immediate effect or else they will delete his content [4 years of hard work] – panicking the poor chap found a local friend willing to help him, but as soon as the DNS prorogation started ‘someone’ called Farhan’s friend and asked questions about Aarpix and if they can possibly ‘have the owners cell phone number’ worrying for the safety of his friends Farhan resolved to buy a sever internationally and used their support services to help salvage the at-risk data. As I write this post at 2am Aarpix is slowly coming back online.
I strongly believe these scare tactics must be condemned, Unilever/Mindshare should be held accountable for this accident and must be forced to offer compensation to the grieved family with immediate effect. I do not mean merely doling out a paltry 1 lac rupees to the affected family but stress a far more expensive compensation to widow and the four kids who now have a life to live without the primary bread earner and literally no husband or father to look after them. May Allah give them the courage and patience to recover from this tragic incident
UPDATE: Just noticed that Dawn.com is also playing some mischief in this incident as well, the above Obituatry message was published in Sunday’s edition of Dawn, 23rd August, 2009. If you scroll to page 14 Karachi Metropolian section within the online archive hosted at epaper.dawn.com you do see this image in small print, but clicking on Saad Khan’s Obituary, and it comes with an error “The Article image is missing”, might this be an accidental mistake, possible but aint it too coincidental?
UPDATE 2: The missing image from the epaper edition of Dawn.com has been fixed, one of their adminstrators personally called me up to inform me that it was a site-wide problem for that particular day, and the website administrators are fixing it with immediate effect, he has reassured me that there was no foul play. It was an Obituary ad and does not come under the editorial control of Dawn, even if they wanted to
Comments
363 responses to “Saad Khan looses life in Unilever / Mindshare Reality Show accident”
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=195…
>>>>> too bad to see all this hapening in pakistan >>>>> Uniliver should follow the rights of employees and take the due responsibility for this>>>> they are runing there repute in pakistan…..good employees are asset they need to be protected from all the way….God bless saad and his family alwayzz
The fact that this tragedy has failed to get any media attention so far simply goes to show how powerfully advertising spend in thic country (and spends in other categories) controls what TV channels/newspapers choose to broadcast/publish.
When a young boy in Karachi recently ran his speeding car over a group of labourers and one person died, the media climbed over each other to report the story.
They are quiet in Saad Khan's case because Unilever and Mindshare are involved – one, the biggest spender on FMCG advertising and the other the biggest media buying agency,
This should also give us an insight into how our 'independent' media is bought into carrying out character assassination of certain eminent people.
Our media is as independent as our judiciary – or, shall we say, selectively independent.
The only entity left in this case that can make a big noise about the whole thing and fight for proper compensation is Saad Khan's employer – RBS.
A very sad incident indeed. the multinational should own the responsibility and support Saad's family financially, educate his children.
@Fawwad Afridi: what more details do you need? All the details are available on the internet. Please see some of the links:
http://umairmohsin.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/boy-k…
http://www.aarpix.com/mag/2009/08/22/breaking-new….
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=195…
@Obi Wan Kenobi: Please start faxing them in Rotterdam and London if you don't get any response within a week and let us all know the progress. Thanks.
How about a demo outside the offices of Unilever….anyone up for that ?
Jazz Khan — There is a story on this in The News — I suspect the rest of the media will pick it up soon — there is no real suppression — only just that the tragedy happened in Thailand some days back — and went unreported in the Thai press as well
This is terrible news, indeed if it were a politically motivated thing, it would create a furore.But sine giant conglomerates are involved, there isn't as much as a whisper.
Is it wise to have a reality show without adequate protection back up? I mean, the contestants are playing to live and not die.A breathing, vital, alive man was made to go underwater with some weight tied to his feet, according to the story.Why couldn't the people there fathom the difference between fighting for life and playing for real? Were they so professional that they would let nothing, not even death, come between a reality show and a real time happening?
The Unilever should be brought to task with a life time financial assistance to the widow and her four children.
@Omar
Had you been in Aarpix's place you won't have been saying that. Their servers were threatened, they were nicely warned, etc. etc.
People on Marketing 360 Forum, People related to me (all media people inc. Dawn & Jang), etc etc. have all known about this for a week now, probably the second day it happened.
How could it than not be reported even as a small news item. Than you say it's not suppression.
umair i cannot speak for other papers but no such suppression happened where i work (which is the news) and proof of that is the story — a good balanced story needs to have all sides of the issue included and sometimes that that can take time — by no suppression i mean that no one from unilever told us not to publish it — rather they told us to get their version if we were doing a story — also since the tragedy happened in a foreign country and went unreported in its press and given that the family did not make an issue of it it is only reasonable that it will take time for the media to pick it up — umair if i am not mistaken you have written for us when i was in Dawn right?
umair — also dont confuse marketing and editorial staff — yes i know many people had known of this for the past few days but to do a story in a newspaper means that you at least get the facts right, talk to eye witnesses (if possible) and definitely talk to the family (which still hasnt happened by the way)
Yes pakistanis are the most inhuman and hypocrate nation on earth.We forget national level diasters so easily so this is …….wat can i say but very depressing.
Unilever and mindshare shud be held responsible for this incident .We shud make some strategy to highlight this terrible story on the media…..
Pakistan is a jungle having no by laws and justice.Like establishment,politicians,corporate sector also think Pakistani nation as bere bakriyan
Seriously traggic to know it .. ! May Allah rest his soul in Jannat.
You want to know how Unilever's Employees Think:
Without taking names, this is a friend of a friend on Facebook:
"If you need justice then go and knock the door of the court of law rather crying like a baby.
I believe there must have been an agreement between the alleged victim and the concerned parties. Poor guy went there by his own choice and Im quite sure that he would have been told about any extreme circumstances whould could occur.
We should give up the typical attitude for cheap fame and
money by cashing someone's death."
—-means
I'm holier than thou because I paid for you. As simple as that.
Well i have just gone through all the comments and before i would like to comment on anything let me exhibit my grief and sorrow for Mr.Saad's death and the pain which his family sustaining right now.
being a lawyer myself let me clear it to you guys that in no way one company or a person can evade his liability for death. all these clauses in long long contracts excludes the liability of a party to contract from injuries and other losses but if you say that after incorporating a simple clause in long contract you can easily escape liability for death of a person coz of your negligence then i would simply say you are completely wrong.
Saad's agreement can minimise the compensation to some extent coz ov contributory negligence( or for instance he refused to wear life jacket or any other precautionary measure) but simply entering into contest would not leave the other party free from any liability.
Secondly, on one comment that big Corporations are wise enough that they have big lawyers team, let me clear it to you many big corporation even with hundreds of lawyers in their legal department commit heinous crimes and many mistake which you can't even imagine coz legal department can only make them aware of the legal repercussions, cannot stop them from taking an action, and let me tell you when companies see big profits ahead they very often refuse to listen to their legal departments too, and take risks. I think you are wrong in this extent that a big legal department consisting of expert lawyers can make them wise and stop them from committing such negligent acts is totally irrational logic.
lastly, on the part of Media, well media is not a social responsible group who would always break the news for public good, rather it is an organisation to make profits by selling news, blackmailing, spreading rumours as well as on the brighter side causing awareness and many other good things too. but it depends on the organisation how are they using their skills. I won't name any particular organisation but i would just simply say, Media specially in pakistan is too busy in politics coz they became another political party a complete lota group who often works for opposition and Government with one single ambition that is to earn money and money. it is same media which created Taliban a hero and it is the same media which is calling it terrorist so who ever gona spend money on media, he is using it for his own purpose.
regards,
Hassan Shah
when i go through the whole story literally i ve no words how can i …
all my sympathies for the victim's family . but they cant buy food from our sympathies. iam against our so called rubbish media 🙁
tears in my eyes .
may SAAD's soul rest in heaven and give patience to bear the great loss and i suggest to shutdown this rubbish media whos just earning by selling Pakistan to the West..
hats off to ARPrix
@Omar.
Yes! sir. Been Dawn's freelance technology writer for 10 years now and if they don't kick me out after this incident would like to remain so for 20 more. 😛
@suppression – sir with all due respect to Jang's publication, the report sounds like it was Saad's fault that he participated in the first place, it was his fault that he decided to really make the course challenging for himself and it was his fault that he drowned. Seriously…How can you not find someone in just 8 feet of water if you have proper precautions….
Personally….I don't have anything against Unilever or Mindshare. I've worked with both. They're amazing companies. But what i really have a bone is the fact that it wasn't reported for so long and why does the news has to be broken on rumors by an unknown blogger and e-mag than by a trusted media group like Jang. Jang has the power to trace out the most unknown facts within seconds. I KNOW.I've seen it. Even then it took a week for something like this.
Adage even reported within three days.
Well i think Omair you being a journalist or freelance writer yourself must be aware of the fact that Our so Called Ansar Abbassi the head of Investigation wing of Jang Newspaper Group can get CJ daughter marks scam then how come he can't get the true version of story from Thailand. I just remember few things from Karl Marks theory that these capitalist get their interests protected by way of legislation and other means and now i am very much convinced that even they protect their interest by giving funds to Media groups in the form of advertisements and in many other ways.
hmm — umair adade is i think an advertising publication and is not the same as a newspaper where a good balanced report should speak to all parties concerned — again, not wanting to sound as if i am defending my newspaper, the news ki story did speak to a close friend of saad's, one of the four whose names were given on his obituary notice as well — i didnt get the idea at all that it was something he went in knowing the dangers – as a reader i could make out that that's prob what unilever wants us to think — besides, what his friend was saying was quite the opposite — plus the headline didnt suggest at all that saad was himself to blame
hassan — this story has nothing to do with ansar abbasi — but to respond to your point, even in farah dogar's case, his story only stood because he had documentary proof in the form of copies of communication between the examiners and the board chief — plus he spoke to several people — in this case, even the autopsy report i believe, which would give the cause of death, is still awaited — besides, it happened in thailand where pakistani newspapers or TV channels have no links and also the thai media is far more controlled than the one in Pakistan — hence no reporting of the event in any major thai newspaper
@Omar.
it was the editorial part sir in The News. Ver subtly put …. other people used ropes… saad decided to swim it out.. the only one to do so…decided a back technique… people were shouting at him to remove the pack… etc etc… 🙂
yes umair — but like i said and if you read it closely that is all coming fom unilever and the article says that —
May ALLAH rest's SAD soul in eternal peace and give his family the patience and courage to overcame the tragedy, AMEEN. We all have something to say here for the victim and the faulty but my request to all, that we should put the strong protest, against the faulty. It could be the physical cyber, mobile, or any mean, like we can put physical protest out side the unilever office which is AVARI TOWERS etc.. We have to do this bcz we are the only one who can do this no one will do this for us. Please be unit and protest.
this is really sick! only to make the show real they can actually put the life of a person at stake!!! and moreover this news didnt telecast at any news channel???? my question is why?????
@Omar
"The spokesperson claimed that all contestants were given lifejackets, but refused them."
"The multinational claimed the other participants performing the same stunt before Khan had pulled themselves along the pond with a rope attached to side instead of swimming the length. It was also said that the stunt had been tested by experts with a 12-kg backpack."
———————
I'm not saying the report is not balanced… but I at least came away feeling like it was Saad's fault, which is not what his friends & family are claiming.
well that's a matter of opinion then umair because when i read what his friend said i tended to believe him
@omar
I know sir that the report also says 'claims', but i personally found it a bit skewed. I'm no expert and this is a personal opinion only.
Also, sir where were Unilever & Mindshare when they heard the News. Granted our local media cant' always be aware of 'small matters' like these given the fish they have to fry, but couldn't Unilever & Mindshare taken out a small note about the incident and what they were doing regarding it.
It would have increased their brand value much much more than the show itself. I would have felt that Unilever cared about me and my countrymen. Right now they've gotten a tarnished reputation (wrong or right) and I wonder about the consequences to 'Clear' if they try to air the show now as my sources tell me they're still trying to do.
hmm — no one is saying that this is a small matter — at least i didnt — only trying to explain the delay in the story (and speaking ONLY for the publication which I work for) — as for unilever and mindshare, umair, this is a question best asked of their managements
When are we going to stop copying every stupid indian show ??? Can we be ourselves ???
@Omar.
I know the answer to my own question, sir… :)I'm just putting it up here for debate's purpose.
For Jang Group's Contribution to the matter, I'm VERY HAPPY (really am), that at least they've done right and published the story. Better late than never. If nothing else, Unilever & Mindshare will have to acknowledge the wrong and at least some inquiry will take place.
That's all That Can Be Expected. 🙂
Though I hope the victim's family is compensated properly. Do you know that the couple (saad & Anji) had been together since 8th grade. I don't blame her for not talking to the media. It's devastating just thinking about it.
Anyways sir… would it be possible to have your email. I owuld like to be in touch. Do send it to me at my address if possible. It's umair dot mohsin at gmail dot com.
@Iqbal Jameel: I am up for the demo. Let me know when you finalize it.
@Omar: I totally agree with Umair that it should not have taken News so many days to come up with this article and that too sounding as Saad's fault.
@Umair & @Omar:
I can understand Unilever Pakistan being mute about the incident but what about their London & Rotterdam head offices? As people are claiming here that they have written to them as well then shouldn't they have responded at least? We talk here that such incident would have made a big hue & cry in the western world. Then why aren't the head offices of Unilever taking note? Shouldn't they be concerned that the reputation of Unilever Pakistan is at stake? Where is corporate governance & support to the community? Do these companies only claim to be ethically and morally correct? I would have imagine a much better handling of situation by Unilever London & Rotterdam (or may be no one ever had the guts to write to them)
Your thoughts please…
well… reading almost all the posts here i would like to ask where the HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION of Pakistan is sleeping??
Supreme Court is busy???
they just don't waste a second to make usless issues big issues and and when its time to rise a voice, they just pretend that if nothing has happened!!
looking to all the posts i must say that we the blogger community at lest should rise the voice to such an extent that he Supreme Court should it self take up the matter!
Pakistan should bycot their products!!!
and yes giving a handsome amount to the family is not a way at all to compensate, thats not the way! Unilever is a strong company and just to take care of one family is not a prob at all!!
unilever deals with house hold stuff, taht sould be given free, the educations, monthly expences to family and medical facilities!
Am sure this will be not a problem for the such a strong company!
dania — i have already said that the para in question is coming from unilever — and that the story has the friend's quotes as well — the family was approached but i think they have declined to talk for now — for obvious and understandable reasons
also dania, as for unilever your questions are fine but you need to address them to unilever and mindshare directly — i doubt it very much that the ceo of unilever will respond to this blog — but yes i think they would have been better served if they had immediately been more public/transparent about this — would have been good for them as well —
A famous English saying " when they were killing the Jews i didn't show any reaction, when they were killing the christens even then I didn't show any reaction. But when they decided to kill me then nobody was even left to show any reaction'
So message is loud and clear
I found out about Saad's tragic death a day after the incident and was shocked from the very beginning . I couldn't stop thinking about it even though I had never seen him. Two days later I found out that he was the husband of a distant relative of mine .As kids we used to play together . I just wanted to scream and cry from the very beginning . My heart reaches out to 'Gurya' and her children. She is facing the ultimate truth of the world we live in ,but it is not easy to go through with it .
As for the inadequate safety present at the show , one can only deduce that there are Pakistanis involved!!! What a shame , was it a game show or a game show of 'death'?!
May Allah rest his soul in peace and grant strength and sabar to the family .
I offer all the help I can provide .
We as a nation have no respect for life.
It says all. Life is spent like water every day.
this is ridiculous! how can a giant like Unilever be so careless when it knows it's asking people to play with danger? Very irresponsible of them and i guess they should be charged for this…. nothing can compensate for the loss but this is going to affect his entire family, the kids especially..
The said reality show infact a 'killer show' should be banned and government should take necessary action against the producers of the show. The aggrieved family should immediately go to the court of law or even to the 'Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Ifitikhar Chowdary', so that these criminals i.e. Mindshare & Unilever (Zionist Companies)should be brought to justice and the family should be properly compensated in true letter and spirit.
My condolences with the deceased's family and May Allah (SWT) give them courage to bear this irreparable loss and put the departed soul in HIS heaven.
Needless to say that I feel extremely sad for the family that Saad leaves behind. What I do know is that these local MNCs are hundred times more responsible and caring than the local 'seth' organisations. Understand the facts and the circumstances on the ground first guys, then comment ! Dont waste your time arriving at immature and premature conclusions.
The whole Unilever Team Behind This and The Production House Along with Host should get dragged to the Court. This is the Only Way MNCs will Learn To Be Careful Before Murdering A Father, A Son, A Husband in his 30s.
The Traffic Police Doesn't Ask You That You Drove For Last 5 years Without Breaking A Light – When You Do Break The Light- You Get A Ticket Without Excuse. Court and Justice Ifitkhar Chaudhry is the Only Solution To This Problem. One might Start Composing Emails to the Chief Justice and Later (and quickly) take The Matter To The Court.
I would Request Eminent Lawyers, Friends and Family of Saad Khan Not To Move Back From Dragging Unilever and Party to The Court. No matter how much compensation is offered. It is not about compensation or signing waiver documents, its about saving future lives.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/Pak…
Just don't words to express the feeling. Such huge companies run such shows as part of their promotional schemes.. they should have taken proper safety measures .. heavy penalty should apply on them, and proper compensation should b given to the family.. though Monetary benefit cannot help them emotionally.
Media – its just commercial and not playing its true role!
just don't have words *
we are discussing about the death of Saad Khan. he is no more among us!
no we have to analyze what steps should be taken in the way!
guys we need a platform! em sure every body here is ready to help the family in one way or the other but there should be a platform so that the voice is heard to the higher authorities as well!
lets do somthing practical!!
the ironic thing is that many people here would in all probability gladly work for unilever if offered a job
Please join the Facebook Group Say NO to reality shows, For MUHAMMAD SAAD KHAN
Basic Info
Name: Say NO to Reality Shows
Type: Common Interest – Beliefs & Causes
Description: Reality shows around the media world have become very popular. In a quest to make thrilling, adventurous and exciting programs the producers, sponsors, directors, media managers, risk the life of un-trained & un-skilled participants.
This is a pure act of playing with a precious human life. This facebook page marks a start of a campaign against all such entities who organize and sponsor such events for cheap publicity & monetary kick backs.
Copy paste this link
http://www.facebook.com/share.php?appid=253009680…
There are many faces of this problem such as lack of safey measures, lack of compensation, complete disregard to planning and human life but an important fact is that role of so called independent media.
The can rdicule almost anyone can use the power of print and elctronic media to pcik up any issue and on this major story they, and i mean all of them, kept quite. THEY CAN KEEP ON REPEATING THE STORY THE BOY WHO RAN OVER A POOR MAN (AND I AM NOT DEFENDING THE BOY OR HIS FATHER) even though we all know that almost everyone in this country starts driving without a licence but because huge advertizemnt revenue is involved they just kept quite.
This also shows the power of multinationals vis a vis political parties. a politician can not stop the media from printing a story but a multinational can. NOW we know who rules us.
I'm just going to echo what a few *very few* people have said here and hope this finally gets through to you.
1. No one is trying to justify what happened to Saad. His death, accidental or not, is a tragedy and my thoughts go out to his family.
2. Unilever is only a sponsor for the TV show. Liability *if any* for Saad's death does not lie with them. Asking Unilever to take responsibility is like asking a concert sponsor to pay up if someone gets injured at a concert.
3. While understanding that they have no liability, Unilever is working out a financial package for Saad's family to make sure they they are *at least financially* taken care of.
4. Accidents happen. Yes, this is an accident that could possibly have been avoided but they happen all the time. Most of the time when accidents happen we don't even take notice, but this time, due to a big name company being involved, every Tom, Dick and Harry with a keyboard is all about justice.
5. A waiver was signed by all contestants that signed up for the show which means no company can be held liable for his death.
Now stop trying to lynch Unilever. And before you say that I'm a pawn in this game by the big bad company, let me point out that I don't work for Unilever or Mindshare. I have just *unlike most of you* found out as much as I could about the incident before picking a side.
Cheers,
Nida