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).""
...I hope for this guy's sake that the goatse guy isn't bidding on this auction...
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
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 is the auction. The bidding is up to nearly US$15K.
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
People sell everything, these days. Gues there is a 'need' for it...
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
Bumfights did it, and why not this fellow? For over $300, he might as well.
Some call me Howie Feltersnatch
How do you measure the number of hits on the guy's forehead?
Lets pool our cash and advertise for GIMP.
please don't let this guy give you the wrong impressions about nebraska :( we're not all that desperate for recognition.
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
Hasn't something like this already been done?
"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Can I buy it and get him to write "I sold out!" backwards on his forehead?
I like muppets.
let's all kick in a few bucks and put a big "/." on his forhead...
either that or "all your base are belong to us"...
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
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/
"The way I see it I'm selling something I already own"
Wow, that's neat. I generally am only able to sell things I not yet own. But of course, once I've sold it, it's mine!
(And yes, I turned off my karma bonus for this silly posting)
...ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
Goldenpalace.com buys it.
Wow. If this Fisher guy can net $322 with his human-sized forehead just walking around Nebraska, it would be like hitting the lottery for Paul Begala on nation-wide TV.
Right?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ca tegory=317&item=5949256699&rd=1&ssPageName=WD2V
Current bid as of post $3US if your curious :)
That's using your head!!!
Although I guess I'd have to go outside and mingle with other people then, huh...?
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
But before I bid, I was wondering if anyone could tell me if a logo that said "Idiot inside" would infringe on Intel's trademark?
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
How about Paris Hilton rent some space on her vag and ass?
Both are high visibility, so it's guaranteed to be seen by millions.
Would be great ad space for someone like Durex or Trojan.
I'm willing to be an ad broker on that deal.
Cheap advertising in Paris!
And I am going to make him tatoo "I have AIDS" on his forehead.
Hundreds of Porn Sites with a never ending array of popup ads with flashing animated gifs and shockwave flash banner ads.
I wonder how thats going to work on his forehead.
... and in the DRM, bind them.
He hopes to replace the big "L" currently flashing there....
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
Wait until you see where I'm putting an ad (+product demo) for Viagra!
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
did he patent it???
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
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.
maybe he should be sponsored by Head. Would be fitting.
Kind of a small forehead. I'd rather get my logo on a famous celebrity with a big forehead. Like, say, Jennifer Love Hewitt. Guess it would cost more, though you could always just get her really drunk and then write on her forehead with a permanent marker. Well. I couldn't.
Seriously, though, is this the next phase in product advertisement? Sure, it's more noticeable than having a baseball cap with a product on it, but sheesh. I'm having all kinds of nightmares about futuristic product advertising from Minority Report already, that seems much more likely to happen.
I think I'll just chalk it up to someone doing something for his fifteen minutes of fame than any actual change in the landscape of product advertisement.
I bid $1000.00
To advertise I am a dumb ass.
Ummm there is nothing new here.
/. material? then again, I just answered my own question...
This has been done off and on by people for a long time on eBay. It showed up a LOT during the end of the dotcom era.
I have seen, on ebay, people willing to advertise via tattoo on the forehead, back, chest, and other such things...
is this really
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
I must also agree with another poster... Don't let him give you the wrong idea about Nebraska.
Hmmm.
Just think of all the extra "forehead" space that some folks would have for this advertising! two, three, maybe even four ads at a time, with no unsightly hair accidentally covering up the ad.
From a marketing perspective. The peripheral publicity and news coverage will be quite large, even if no one ever sees the guy's forehead. And they'll get the name recognition of being the "hip, edgy company" that tatooed (albeit temporarily) this guy's forehead.
I'm sure Golden Palace doesn't give half a damn whether anyone ever sees their grilled cheese - they bought their way in to an established Internet meme.
But wasn't stuff like this "out" in the mid 90's? ome on, are people still camwhoring and writing stuff on their hairy chests and pixelated boobs?
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.
A picture of a bone.
Get it? Bonehead?
*sigh* My most humble apologies.
He better hope Viagra, Tampax, or Preperation-H doesn't take him up on the offer.
Energizer would be a good thing I suppose.
As long as shitforbrains.com doesn't get their foot in the door.
Got a site/story worth sharing? Leave a mark
Shave. You'll get more available space for advertising. C'mon, folks! Let's here 'em!
Mr. Clean
Hair Club For Men
Head and Shoulders
How much Rocky Dennis (MASK) could have sold his forehead space for.0 ZT1kZn xteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9bWFza3xo dG1sPTF8bm09b24_;fc=1;ft=2;fm=1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089560/?fr=c2l
[FromTheMorning]
Someone has already done this... And it was in the news... It was like 1.5 years ago. Heck, was probably on slashdot, too.
"hey, could you pass me a paper towel? er.. I mean... DEPLOY ABSORBTION PANEL!"
This has been done by CIHost. They attributed 800 new clients to the stunt. With acquisition costs around $50-$100 in the hosting industry, the $15k or so they paid was pretty much a bargain if this is true. Only difference? The guy had the logo on the back of his head, not the front.
You can see the auction at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=317&item=5947720145&rd=1
Currently the selling price is over $15,000. Not a bad chunk of change.
I'm originally from Omaha, and knowing what people are like there, this doesn't surprise me. Many Omahans would sell their soul for a pair of pants or a cookie. Don't be surprised if you see more auctions like this from people in Nebraska.
With Tucker Carlson leaving CNN's "Crossfire", and James Carville also soon to leave for Voldemort-related stunt work in the next "Harry Potter" film, this looks real good for Paul Begala. He could get rich off of thisl he's better equipped for anyone for the new "headvert" field.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Direct Link to the eBay auction.
It has over 100 bids and a price of over $15,000. Still not enough for me to give up my dignity though. I'm sure most of those bids are bogus.
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
Seriously, folks, I shave my head daily. I'll sell advertising space on the BACK of my head so that everyone behind me can read it. How creepy would it be to want to read someone's forehead, but not want to stare...
Cmon you slashdotters! you can be first.. you still have about 6 hours to get in a"head" of him...
It's up to $15,000 right now.. you could use that money!
I can just see monitoring the impressions per month to see how much advertising exposure the ad gets...
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
How much would Viagra have to pay YOU to walk around with blue horns on your head and a plastic salami in your pants?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Then the poor bloke would wear himself out doing constant backflips trying to read it. "what's it say? what's it say?!!!"
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
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
Far more interesting is a company that uses body paint to paint logos on hot-chicks on beachs around San Diego. Back when I had a .com, we hired the guy. The represented our brand very well.
I first heard about advertising on people's foreheads in 2003 in this article.
Although it does look like this guys current $15,099 is slightly better than the £88.20 offerend in the Guardian article.
"The agency, Cunning Stunts, is offering students up to £88.20 a week to wear a corporate logo on their head for a minimum of three hours each day. The brand or product message will be attached by a vegetable dye transfer and the students will be paid to leave the logos untouched."
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=317&item=5949232126&rd=1
just kidding Mr. Taco please dont hurt me
"Insert Sig Here"
If forehead advertising catches on, Rogain sales will plummet. Pfizer will suffer heavy losses and raise drug prices on other product lines. Other companies will follow suit in short order, setting of a nationwide panic. The Canadian border will be overrun until their stocks run out, and then is pure anarchy....
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
The eBay trolls have killed the auction, but I just noticed the current high bidder is "www-smileyspider-com" a user that was registered today that points to a website selling stuff. So you mean to tell me, that people are leveraging auction stunts like this by registering fake usernames just to get some free marketing?
The previous high bidder was "wwwpitronixcouk"...
Has this guy ever heard of forehead burn in?
And to think that we wear company logo'ed tee-shirts for free...
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
yeah, but you can buy entire Nebraska counties for the price of a decent home in New York.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
let's pool some community money to have "dumbass!" emblazoned on his forehead for 30 days...
talk about selling out, this totally lacks any self respect. i don't care how much money he ends up making, this will be the beginning of a very slippery slope as to how far he will go for a buck.
he might as well start giving blowjobs: at the very least it's more discrete.
three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
for those of you not understanding the premise behind his auction.. the point is NOT to sell his forehead space. that probably won't even happen. but the amount of press and interest from viewers like you are already doing enough to promote HIS domain AND also the domains of the bidders who have oh-so-cleverly OPENED NEW ACCOUNTS with their domain names in their account name just so they get some free publicity. my goodness, genius!
He was covered in tattoos. The best one was across his forehead which simply stated, "Yes they hurt"
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
ID10T
Ron Gage - Westland, MI
Mozilla jumped the gun when they went for the newspaper ad. Forehead spam is the future, you fools!
What this guy hasn't told the potential advertisers is that he has long hair which completely covers his forehead. ;)
Notice there's no picture of his head anywhere. Remember, even worse than fine print is the information they don't provide and the obvious questions you don't think to ask.
Of course, in this case it's the common-man screwing the Big Company, so I suppose there's poetic justice in it... hehe
...will have a very large 'L' for a logo.
I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent. - Q
I think counting lumps would only be accurate if we did the right thing and all pitched in to buy the space for a giant "KICK ME!" sign on his forhead :P
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=317&item=5949241580&rd=1
(At least it was $8.00 when I posted this)
AND Whag at least posts a picture of himself.
Your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
doing it too
But he's auctioning space on an unsuspecting coworker's forehead... hehe...
'This space for sale'
George II -- Spreading Freedom and American values, one bomb at a time.
and either get "666" or "IDIOT" put on there, perhaps with the slashdot logo undercutting it.
When Adidas started this crazed brand slavery while I was at the University of Illinois working on the Plato project I decided to brand myself with my own logo. I had an old torn up t-shirt, to which I took a black magic marker and emblazoned across the front and back in sloppy, handwritten letters:
ADDEDUS
This was back when the U of IL was still an engineering school churning out real technology with a 2.7:1 male to female ratio -- and a cute young girl actually came onto me while I was sporting this performance art. You might give it a try.
Seastead this.
What is a Nebraska? /sarcasm
POOR IMPULSE CONTROL
(Not terribly commercial, but the first forehead tattoo that springs to mind....)
Java: the COBOL of the new millenium.
You think that's bad? These guys are auctioning their co-worker's forehead off on eBay , and he doesn't even know yet.
"Any actual placing of an ad on Whag's forehead is entirely at Whag's discretion, and I must warn you that I haven't told him that I'm selling his forehead on eBay, so he may be a little opposed to the idea at first. But with a little prodding and some cold hard cash, I'm sure it'll all work out."
Ruby on Rails Screencast
I live in Nebraska and this hit the local news over the weekend. My first thought was, "I wonder how long until I see this on /.?" What a great way to make a state that already has a backwoods reputation seem even more backwoods.
I think an appropriate message would be, "Will work for brains."
Having done so much with so little for so long, I now can do anything with nothing at all.
That sounds pretty dumb, give the rate at which companies these days either go under or get swallowed up in buyouts and mergers. In 20 years, you'll spend all of your time explaining why you have a tattoo of some long-defunct dotcom that nobody remembers.
nt
HTTP/1.1 400
well, then it would just be a tattoo - as nobody would know that there was an actual firm by that name, or that it was the logo for some product.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
The billboard apparently has yet to be notified of his participation: Whag the billboard
This was on all of our Omaha news outlets yesterday, so I figured it would grow to a national blip by sometime in the next couple of days. But to grow to an international story covered by the BBC and Slashdot in less than a day, that is amazing!
Thank you BBC for the forehead diagram, showing how exactly the graphics could be applied. " This model shows how the forehead advert could work"
I just couldn't understand until I had your image.
Neil is that you? Yeah yeah, it's me... Neil...
Here's to a porn site winning.
Any tattoo on your head hurts A LOT. It's one of the two most painful areas on the human body to get a tattoo.
He'll get halfway through the first letter or logo, lose control of his bowels, and we'll never hear from him again because he'll be busy sending back all that money.
.. pa-ra-bo-la, pa-ra-bo-la, 2 pi R, 2 pi R, where's your latus rectum, where's your latus rectum, 2 pi R
Then you'd have a really stupid looking tattoo with a random name...
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
I gotta believe that this is gonna be won by that casino that bought the virgin mary grilled chees and the Christmas presents from that dad.=
Certainly their style.
C'mon, let's get serious.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
Probably for the first time ever, that might actually be appropriate :)
-WS
An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
A p0rn site wins his forehead...
Wonder what the ad'll be.
Scott Carr
And I work at one of the branches of the Omaha library. At least I'll know who he is when he walks in, perhaps we can get enough money together amongst the library staff and we could advertise the library!
"We need to get over this notion, that, for Apple to win... Microsoft must lose." - Steve Jobs, 1997
huh? I don't think that they chose tattoos that they think are stupid looking.
with that attitude, why take a tattoo at all, if they're all stupid?(oh wait, why would there even have to be a name?) in which case, why bother criticising them as stupid when you just think that tattoos suck?
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I know what you mean about the plates. I get the Husker plates to at least not have to deal with blatently ugly plates (the orange ones) or any plate with a freaking covered wagon, chimney rock, or some other cliché they use when they run out of innovative ideas--which pretty much means every plate they put out.
Having done so much with so little for so long, I now can do anything with nothing at all.
Why does this sound like the setup to a Far Side cartoon?
[Drawing of a man with "Ireland Sucks" written across his forehead, 4 angry looking men closing in on him]
O'Brady's plan backfired when it turned out that practical jokers were willing to spend more money than legitimate advertisers.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
I'm almost tempted to create an ebay alias like "the_antichrist" and outbid everyone else.
Just think of all the bible thumpers who will flip when this guy walks down the street with 666 tattooed on his forehead!
As usual, the copycats are running. The /.ted one is clever; this one is funny:I tem&rd=1 &item=5949241580&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?View
Optimist says glass is half-full; Pessimist says glass is half-empty; Dynamist takes a drink.
Most employers definitely would not go for this in the work place. And as the article indicates he's not already enrolled in college (I'm a student at UNO and he's not in the directory and Creighton doesn't show him as a student either. I won't even bother checking the CC's.) So even if he does put your logo on his forehead, then what? He sits at home playing Xbox where no one can laugh at him?
nt.
I think it would be great if someone just bought it privately and wrote something akin to, "I'm a huge dumbass" on his forehead. That'll teach people to auction themselves on eBay. Idiot Inside is pretty clever.
Anyone else got good ideas? I'm totally serious about this. I would put in at least $20. How would we get our money together? Hopefully it would stay low enough to not make it worth 30 days of looking like a fool.
Maybe the guys at T-Shirt Hell should buy it... Then he'd really be stuck with something he wouldn't want.
I don't know what the rest of you think about this, but it seems to me that a news story like this should be voided from the Slashdot queue long before it airs nationally on an American news channel like Fox News or CNN (where I saw it this morning, long before the Slashdot story appeared).
I wouldn't be surprised if someone saw the news on TV, looked it up via Google News, and then submitted their find to Slashdot, which raises the question: is Slashdot really that desperate for news?
Well, I guess Slashdot is unique in its ability to encourage comments from all corners and rounded edges of the planet, so perhaps the story is justified after all!
For a big L or something befitting the IQ of this guy. Come on guys - let's make it happen!
I wonder if we could all put a fund together to pay this bloke to walk round with TAWT on his head
(for those not so quick, that would read TWAT in a mirror)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1 &item=5539052347/
This guy wants to be a forehead whore? ;P
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
Striking. Barry Deutsch did a funny cartoon on exactly this subject almost two years ago. Is this life imitating art or is it a running gag in the US?
... I think I will bid and if I win I will make him display www.gnaa.us
bash: rtfm: command not found
Bidding is above $15,000. That's really good pay for 30 days of just walking about, looking like a borderline moron/genius.
High bidder will get to place an ad for exactly one week on this man's forehead. His name is Whag, he is a co-worker of mine. Whag gets around alot, a pretty social guy. Aside from working here at the office (where he interacts with about 20 people a day), Whag also volunteers for his local fire company. On top of that, he spends a significant amount of time at the local hosey, and you know that ad's just going to look that much better after a couple of beers. Overall, the ad on his forehead would probably reach anywhere from 20-100 people per day. Any actual placing of an ad on whag's forehead is entirely at whag's discretion, and i must warn you that i haven't told him that i'm selling his forehead on ebay, so he may be a little opposed to the idea at first. But with a little prodding and some cold hard cash, i'm sure it'll all work out.
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Don't forget his nose--lots of room there.
the idea seems to catch...
I have discovered a truly remarkable sig which this 120 chars is too small to contain.
I wonder what happens if some mortage company wins the bet!!! -- head mortaged...
From the questions asked to the seller portion of the auction for this item:
... that's over $1000.00 per square inch.
Q: hello there ! -- i am interested in your advertising space -- could you tell me the dimensions of your forehead ? . . . many thanks
Answered on Jan-10-05
A: Good question. I would say it is safe to say 2 inches high, and about 7 inches wide. I have a widows peak so there will be a bit more space on either side of that as well. I will have pictures up ASAP.
Currently, it's at $16,000.00
Or maybe "Please Slap Me LLC".
This is not my sandwich.
RTFA (Read the fucking auction)
:)
It may be a picture of Whag's forehead, but Whag didn't post it, because someone else is selling Whag's forehead space without his knowledge...
Think they have a law on the books to cover that one?
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
I'm assuming he'll be gallivanting about in Omaha, Nebraska. Sorry, but how much of an impact will he make there? I'd much rather hire a person in New York, DC, LA---any of the big cities on the east or west coast. Call me cheap, but I get the best bang for the buck that way.
Linux at home
Now we know what to do with the money left over from the New York Times ad.
Mod parent up!
that I am willing to place a tattoo (faux tattoo, no needles, please) ad on my dick for thirty days for the princely sum of $500!
The ad is limited to one word, of course...
Of one syllable...
Public exposure of the ad is not guaranteed...
Neither is private exposure, actually...
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Well, it's not completely stupid. I mean, he has a valid idea, and people would be able to legitimately advertise. Unless it's a private auction, then each bidder also gets their ID visible to all /.ers, who might click it, and go to their store, and buy something. The joke bidders are actually pretty smart, as long as they aren't left holding a $14 forehead.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
If every active slashdotter chipped in a quarter, we could have him display "WHORE" for a month. Or maybe the Tubgirl URL.
If eBay let this through it would most likely make the news. Bamm! Free commercial on multiple television stations. If you were lucky you get national coverage, a late night show, maybe even Howard Stern. Why wouldn't Pepsi or Walmart want to grab a piece of that for a mere 20k?
* weedshare.com 50% to artists, webjay.org iuma.com CDBaby.com Epitonic.com ampcast.com
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&it em=5949383003
We're advertising my g/f's 42GG cleavage (the legal part, of course). Beat that!
And we'll accept them adult links/logos (as long as they're sufficiently censored)
Winnings will be spent on an iBook. If I get my way. But then, it's not my cleavage, so it will probably get blown on shoes.
The truth shall always be free: Boris Floricic is Tron.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =5949718150