by
Umair Mohsin | August 30, 2009 at 09:02 pm
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12 comments As the tale surrounding the mysterious circumstances of Saad Khan's death remain as murky as the water in which he lost his life, Unilever has absolved itself of all responsibility regarding the death. Ms Aslam, the information officer for Unilever Pakistan, said that Unilever Pakistan, a division of the multinational soap and cosmetics maker, was not involved in the production of the show, which was handled by a director and crew from Working Hands Production, based in the Indian entertainment capital of Mumbai.
According to Fareshte Aslam, Unilever Pakistan accepts no liability for Khan’s death, Ms Aslam said, but she added that the company is in discussions to provide for Mr Khan’s wife and four children "out of rightness."
This comes on the heels of the fact that across Pakistan leading Blogs covering the reports of Saad Khan's Death like Teeth Maestro (www.teeth.com.pk), S.I.N. CITY (http://umairmohsin.wordpress.com) and the original e-mag that broke the story, Aarpix (www.aarpix.com) have reportedly been blocked by various ISPs in Pakistan. Blocks also continue across the board with all those blogs covering Saad Khan's death coming under the fire.
Unilever has also declined to release the footage of the death, even after 10 days of the death, citing 'investigation & inquiry'. Questions however remain unanswered and consistent demands to Unilever's representatives remain unheeded. There have also been rumors that Mindshare & their production company were not tasked with signing the required safety documents for this show. Also bloggers have asked that if the stunt was so dangerous, why were the life jackets made optional especially with 7 Kg weights in backpacks which would have gotten heavier in the water.
Other information presented also leaves questions of negligence. According to 'The News' article, it took 30 minutes to find Saad Khan's body in the pond located in Chatuchak park in Bangkok. The pond is reported to be muddy with precise depth unknown. If the cameras were shooting the participants, why did it take divers so long to reach him or only later were 'professional divers' called it.
Unilever's avoidance of the media has also called into question the ethical & moral responsibilities of the corporation. The family of Saad Khan has yet also to be approached. Speculations by friends are rife that Unilever's lawyers may have asked them to remain quiet at the threat of withholding the compensation.
As the story continues to unfold we ask why the secrecy if the corporation is not at fault and why is the local media still silent with only the Jang Group in Pakistan & Dawn Group giving an official version of the story. The cover-up continues....
Truemors
Unilever Denies Responsibility Over Saad Khan's Death
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (12)
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Owais Shaikh (not verified)at 20:20 on September 1st, 2009
One of my friend who happens to be working for Unilever, not based in Pakistan, did allude to a possibility of 'no compensation' if the 'smear campaign' against ULP does not stop. And that was four or five days back. So there is certainly some pressure tactic, I fear.
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sadia (not verified)at 21:22 on September 1st, 2009
Yes I agree with you.
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Radiha (not verified)at 20:38 on September 1st, 2009
The media is silent due to the major chunck of their Ad revenue been generated by ULP and Mindshare they will not compromise their revenue over anything.... this shows the morality of our media and companies
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Qaiser (not verified)at 20:47 on September 1st, 2009
I thtink family of Saad Khan should file a petition in the superior courts to get justice. Money will never replace Saad Khan.
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Kamil (not verified)at 20:54 on September 1st, 2009
I do agree with Radiha, Pakistan's media confirmed that they have a price, and whoever paying them good money they'll not disclose any thing related with thier good payer.
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Media Guy (not verified)at 21:53 on September 1st, 2009
Even if we believe the official version of the story, in which Unilever claims no responsibility for the actions citing themselves as just a proxy for a production team - that still does not absolve them of the blame. I've worked in the media industry for many years and have personally worked with the 2 groups (Mindshare and Unilever) for various projects over the years. Unilever is an entity NOTORIOUS for their attention to detail and their micro-management: I remember once haggling with them for over an hour over what color their sponsored show's upholstery needs to be. So it is a little hard for me to believe that these people claim they had no input in the contest format and regulations- any entity that is large and quality conscious like Unilever will always hold the reins of their projects - both financially and aesthetically.Also, let's not absolve Mindshare from this- the MAIN reason Mindshare was there was to coordinate the show from a planning and content perspective - they were the proxy between the production crew and Unilever. They, in my opinion, are equally to blame if not more so.With that being said, I still think that what happened was an unfortunate accident- We all know that both Mindshare and Unilever never ever intended for this tragedy to happen- its just their handling of the details is what is suspect: This is the information age, and the more you suppress something, the greater the fallout.
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pay or no to pay (not verified)at 22:22 on September 1st, 2009
Darlings, hold on a min! lets get it straightWho was this guys who died? A greedy bastard. What was he doing? Gambling with his life. What happened ? Shit happened and it does.Why are we mourning a Shitty gambling bastard and blaming it on Mind share &Unilever ? Is my question.
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Pak Satire (not verified)at 23:51 on September 1st, 2009
whoever that guy was. there is something called corporate social responsibility. but with the kind of comments you given I can very well guess what kind of person you are. Next time some one died from your family/friends, must have a chill pill before posting anything. and do check this out. you will feel more delighted.paksatire.com/2009/08/29/unilever-mindshare-clear-reality-show-becomes-cruelty-show/
at 23:51 on September 1st, 2009
@pay or not to pay
Because there will be plenty of more people who will be greedy enough to enter into the next reality show and we want to ensure that next time something like this doesn't happen to them nd their families too just for the sake of entertainment.
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A Friend (not verified)at 00:11 on September 2nd, 2009
Darling!!....i hear Unilever and Mindshare speaking now!! Look at the audacityont Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> of these multinatonals who cant even appear on the media and accept the resposibility of whatever happened! or atleast tell people what exactly happened! bu no.. all they are doing right now is the blame game...u put in the money.... u have you brand producing the show and you say u had nothing to do with the production... limitt!!!!!
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Shafaq Khan (not verified)at 12:50 on September 3rd, 2009
After reading the latest article published on the conversation directly with one of the participants of the show, Unilever deserves to be treated with disgrace and humiliation especially due to the way they are behaving and denying responsibilty over Saad's death. It is hard to believe that the so called one of the worlds' most known brands could behave so immorally and unethically. And how tactfully and reprehensibly they have bought our media has embarrassed all of us by endorsing the fact in from of the World that what a corrupted part we belong to amongst the most corrupted people. As for Unilevers' and the people there, they know best what happened and they are guilty whether they accept it or not. However, they forgot that God is sitting up there and He shall take the revenge in due course and whole world will see their downfall. My suggestion to all of them is that live with your pride as its soon shall be taken away from you probably not immediately but your so call brand is soon to decend INSHALLAH, before you even know it....... As for "Mr or Ms. or whatever Pay or no Pay" Imagine if you are calling an adorable person like Saad a bastard, What should the world call you?????? Your statement itself talks about your up-bringing, poor you!!!
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Ivan The Terrible Anon User (not verified)at 20:52 on September 3rd, 2009
Discussion With One Of The Particpants At: teeth.com.pk/blog/2009/09/04/discussion-eye-witness-saad-khan-unileverQ. Why did Saad get eliminated after the 4th episode? Participant: He was eliminated when he was challenged to throw a ball into the basket which was 10 feet above the ground while first walking & then standing on an ice block .He got eliminated as he couldn’t complete the task successfully. We all got very disappointed by what happened. I was sad as I thought Saad bhai would leave in a day or two. Q. Were you aware that he was still there after his elimination? How did you react when you saw him on the wild card entry round? Participant: Nobody knew that he was there in the same city. They kept him in a separate hotel. They even recorded his best wishes to all of us, they showed as if it was in Karachi sending us his best wishes and his experience with all of us together, and how he missed those days. On 19th we were preparing for the other task on the set of the show, when we suddenly saw a tall figure coming towards us smiling… it was Saad bhai… we hooted and danced in excitement, finally we got to meet him again, it was a big and a pleasant surprise for all of us. He was the life of the whole show; we used to miss him a lot. Q. Did u know what task will be given for the wild card entry? Participant: We were never told from before about the tasks we were supposed to perform. We used to be told on the spot what we had to do. At that very day we had been given a task that had 3 stages , first, we were supposed to run through the fire carrying a 7 kg sand bag, second, we had to jump into the pond and cross it and third and the last was to climb a rope. Q: What exactly happened with Saad? Participant: Saad bhai cleared the first stage, which was running through fire; he jumped in the pond and swam…. When he reached the middle of the pond he suddenly turned and changed his style to backstroke, he looked troubled, we shouted and asked him to open his 7 KG back pack, and he struggled to open it. While struggling he yelled for help and disappeared in the water. When there was no response from him, we dived in the pond to look for him, but couldn’t find him as the water was very muddy and I came out. We started screaming and crying for help but there was no help around. After around 10 minutes his back pack came up floating on the water. The lifeguards came 10 – 12 minutes after the incident occurred and recovered Saad bhai’s body. Q: You mean to say that there was no professional help on the spot? No paramedics, no safety precautions, nothing at all? Participant: Unfortunately No, there was nothing present over there, we were given the surety that the pond is not very deep. And there was only first aid help in case of injury! No professional divers no life guards and no snorkelers. We only realized it after this incident that during the 10 episodes a similar incident could have happened with any of the participants as pre-cautionary & safety measures were non-existent which we also never realized……!