After a recent fiasco in Vietnam, the Red Cross warns that selling your kidney for an iPhone should only be a joke or an internet meme.
Dr. Nith, a Vietnamese clinic in Laos, shared a photo on social media of three people wearing bloodied bandages and holding up the new iPhone 14. Clearly, it implied that you should donate your kidney in order to obtain the most recent iPhone.
This was only meant to be a marketing joke, but it caused quite a stir in Thailand and Vietnam after it went viral on social media.
People began to take it seriously, and it spread to the point where a Red Cross official had to publicly denounce it, just in case it was taken at face value. The image has since been removed from several social media platforms.
According to Sophon Mekthon, the managing director of the Thai Red Cross Society’s Organ Donation Centre, the image is unethical and inappropriate, and people should not be encouraged to sell their organs. He also reminded people that organ trading is illegal in Thailand.
There is no organ trading. That is prohibited. It is inappropriate to suggest selling organs, especially to get money to buy an iPhone. It is morally wrong and unethical.
Instead, the Red Cross official advised people to register with the Thai Red Cross Organ Donation Centre in order to be organ donors after death. He also stated that there is a donor shortage, with over 6,000 people on a waiting list. As a result, over 2 million people have already registered with the Thai Red Cross Organ Donation Center.
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