Qu Jin (

Chutian Metropolis Daily): When people found out that these cartons were nothing but part of a publicity stunt, their disappointment was understandable. Some even say that if there was no camera, maybe the whole car- ton would have been stolen. Such comments reflect the public’s deep mistrust of others’ morals. Some hope to see an unsupervised scenario where everyone behaves.

However, is it true that nothing positive can come from such publicity stunts? No one stole coins from the boxes, but no one was forced to throw coins into the boxes either, yet many people chose to do the latter. You may argue that they did so out of ego. Even if it is to gratify their ego, or to teach their children to do so, does it matter? At least they know it is the right thing to do.

Voluntary kindness and willingness to help others is virtuous, but those who do good deeds because there is a camera recording what they are doing should also be praised. If this was just a ploy to gain recognition and not for direct commercial profit, the company should not come under fire. We can regard it as a game that reminds us to help each other. Of course, this company must make sure that what it does will not breach relevant laws and regulations.