mrwzk
27-03-2006 07:40:41
$1,000 buys online ad rights to birth
By Christopher Leonard
ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/23/2006
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Asia Francis gave birth to a healthy baby girl last weekend. You missed it? Don't worry. A video of the birth will be available on the Internet soon.
Francis has joined the growing ranks of people auctioning off their skin, their voices and even their pregnancies to advertisers looking for the next big stunt that will grab the public's attention.
Unmarried and unemployed, Francis, 21, said she auctioned the ad rights to her first birth to get money for bills. She posted an ad on eBay promising plenty of media attention to the highest bidder, and the rights to paint its company logo on her belly and videotape family and friends attending the birth wearing company regalia.
"I have been contacted by 2 NEWSPAPERS wanting to do a feature on this auction, So bid, bid, bid and you will get even MORE exposure," the ad read.
The winning bid came in at $1,000, giving Globat.com media publicity around the country.
Francis gave birth to Samiah Wynn Francis on March 18 at a healthy six pounds, fifteen ounces.
Video of the birth will be available at the company's Web site, www.defyinggravity.com which features a number of stunts sponsored by the firm.
Isn't there an easier way to get attention?
Not necessarily, said Floyd Hayes, whose New York advertising firm, Cunning Communications, specializes in media stunts.
"It's a well-held theory in the advertising industry that the average person on the street receives up to 3,000 branded messages a day," Hayes said. To stand out, companies are trying to top themselves by sponsoring ever more outlandish stunts.
Hayes' firm has parked cars on top of buildings and paid 40 college students to swarm Times Square in New York with logos on their faces.
In St. Louis, an advertising company paid fake thieves to steal the St. Louis Cardinals' mascot off highway billboards to get attention for a local radio station that broadcasts games.
What's next? Hayes said tattoos and body part auctions are getting played out. The key is doing something novel. That's what makes it news.
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On the Net
Globat.com www.defyinggravity.com
Cunning Communications www.cunningwork.com
ajasax
27-03-2006 10:11:02
Gee, thanks mom for whoring off my birth on eBay roll
btw, fix the first link in ur post (it has a comma on the end)