Monday, June 02, 2008

A Rain of Money

Sebastian Faulk's new Bond novel hasn't been the only spectacular book launch this week : did you see the front page of The Star this morning?

Indonesian motivational speaker Tung Desem Waringin decided to throw 100 million rupiah (RM34,500) in cash and seminar tickets out of a plane to promote his new book. The drop which took place in Serem in Batang Province. (He initially wanted to create a "rain of money" over Jakarta but was refused permission.)

As a publicity stunt it's generated interest worldwide, being picked up by Reuters and other news agencies ... but don't you think there's something distasteful about getting a crowd of poor folks to scramble for cash? And how many of them are going to want or be able to ... or even benefit from attending a get-rich-quick seminar?

The business man is apparently well known for his publicity stunts which include dressing up as a well known war hero and galloping road around Jakarta on horseback to promote a previous book. He's also a firewalker trainer.

What a pity he doesn't know how to capitalise on the publicity he's generated by having a decent website in place! His site is currently down and his MySpace page is so desperately untidy you can't read a thing.

And ... er ... what's the name of his book, actually?

6 comments:

Lydia Teh said...

Haha, I knew you'd pick this up. But you gotta give the man credit for his creativity.

bibliobibuli said...

definitely! but i hope this doesn't give you ideas for your next book launch!

Lydia Teh said...

I don't have RM34K to spare and I can't ride a horse either, so both ideas are no good to me :) Mmmm... I'll have to think of something different, but not too radical.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is disgusting. He could have contributed the money in a much better and humbler way.

Anonymous said...

hey isn't there this kl socialite, becky something, who does the same thing at her soirees? it's been written about in the papers i think.

bibliobibuli said...

throws money around ms d? do you have her address?