‘Stalin Sweepstakes’

Maybe Howard Rosenberg had a point when he wrote that HBO’s “Stalin” didn’t capture the magnitude of the man’s evil (“A Brute Too Big for TV Screen,” Nov. 20). The movie ended with the information that Stalin had been responsible for the murders of millions of Russian citizens. Moments later, I was watching an HBO promotion for its “Stalin Sweepstakes,” in which thousands of viewers can win their very own “Stalin” T-shirt.

Is it possible that no one at HBO conceived of the tastelessness of this promotion?

DAN SAUNDERS, Los Angeles