Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Morning Yawn (wait, that's taken)

Why is this baby still here? Because we did a little digging last night after Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, wrote back and said the people hoping to rent ad space on their infant (see below) were likely joking, and that's why no one from the Philadelphia Craigslist "community" had flagged the posting.

Turns out this is not a joke. It's a genre.

Back in March, someone posted in Filmmaker Magazine's bulletin board an Ebay auction, captioned: NC filmmaker seeks adspace on their daughter's wardrobe to finance college education/filmmaking gear.

Then, earlier this month, a Manitoba couple got cold feet after offering to use their little darling as a crawling billboard. It was another EBay transaction. They offered to let companies place ads on their baby's outdoor clothing for a year.

The AdRANTS blog was not amused:

We hope this isn't some type of new, baby ad sales network in the making soon to be roaming the halls of maturity wards, tapping on the shoulders of unsuspecting parents and handing out business cards.

Negative press made them cancel the auction. That's right, blame the media, you mercenaries.

The would-be renter said his inspiration came from south of the border, Andrew Fischer of Nebraska, who earned $37,375 by putting the logo of a snoring remedy on his forehead for a month.

But wait, we've found precedent. A New Zealand woman rented space on her belly in February. A BBC report states that Julz Thomson made £96 when she put her expanse for auction on the Internet last week. The winning bid came from a businessman in Auckland whose company uses the slogan: "The mailman always delivers."  (Thanks Andy Maykuth for your scholarship)

Ok, moving on... Get any of that annoying spamwurst from Germany over the last week or two? Turns out it was neo-Nazis. Spiegel Online was hit, too, and much of the mail linked the serious newsmagazine's articles, leading it to apologize.

By matriculating at Duke University, the class of 2004 was a group to be envied. Not only were they going to a great school, they were getting free iPods - well, free with the $39k in tuition, room and board. Turns out the idea wasn't as good as it sounded. Wasn't as useful for academics as it was for taking a break from academics. Good pub, tho...

Want to play for favorite ripped tunes at Grandma's? For you, we recommend the device that converts digital to vinyl. Looks like a turntable on steroids. Writes Engadget:

Next week, we port everything over to 8-track. Because you never know, man, you never know.

Gizmoguy
Posted 05/26/2005 02:42:54 PM
It's no joke: The identical offer is also listed on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5583427960

No bidders yet.
acm
Posted 05/27/2005 12:12:31 PM
there was a real thing like this for a little while, I want to say ten years ago, when ad companies were paying people to get earlobe tattoos of their logos.  I don't know whether not enough people signed on, or they realized that it wasn't creating the wave that they had hoped...