Slashdot Mirror
Man Auctions Forehead Advertising on eBay
Sammy at Palm Addict writes "According to the BBC, a 20-year-old US man is selling advertising space on his forehead to the highest bidder on website eBay. "Andrew Fisher, from Omaha, Nebraska, said he would have a non-permanent logo or brand name tattooed on his head for 30 days. "The way I see it I'm selling something I already own; after 30 days I get it back." Mr Fisher has received 39 bids so far, with the largest bid currently at more than $322 (£171).""
His auction.
It looks like the ebay trolls are going to kill his auction, though. I think this is more of a 'stunt' by someone desperately seeking attention. Kinda funny... but still a 'stunt'.
here's the link to the ebay item...
it appears that since the story was written, the advertising space is now up to 99 bids, with current high bid of $14,999.00, placed by http://www.pitronix.co.uk/...
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
Here's the auction here (which of course is up in the high bid ludicrousphere), but it looks like he won't be the first.
I predict there will be several hundred of these within 24 hours on eBay. Just goes to show that whatever great heights mankind can reach, stupid people can stoop much lower.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
Here's the action: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=317&item=5947720145&rd=1 which is currently at $14,999.00.
... and another guy : http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=317&item=5949241580&rd=1 trying the same thing but for a week instead of 30 days.
Also the homepage: http://www.humanadspace.com/
Chris Pirillo (of Lockergnome fame) started something similar a few years back. Check out Rent My Chest for more info. Basically, PayPal him 20 US bucks, and he'll write on his chest and put the 640x480 shot up on the web for people to see. Granted, it's not 30 days, but just showing the concept isn't new.
I bet there were a lot of hoax bids up to $14,999.99 but the bids over $15K go through some kind of minimal ID verification.
This means if a bidder backs out there's enough info to sue him.
PS:
$15,000 to pay for college? At today's rates that will cover about a semester in community college. OK, I exaggerate just a bit, but only a bit.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Forehead advertising has been around for a while; I'm surprised that this guy would get posted on Slashdot since at this point the shock value is pretty much gone. Toyota pulled a similar stunt earlier this year to advertise their Scions. (There's a mirror of the article from adage here.) There's even a company that rents advertising space on a (presumably) regular basis.
The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away