Advertise on forehead

Fads flash brilliantly and fade quickly into obscurity – some none too soon.
The “rent advertising space on my forehead” fad flashed over the Associated Press wires in January with the story of Andrew Fischer, 20, of Omaha, Neb., a Web-page designer, who used eBay to auction off the use of his forehead for one month for a fee of $37,375.
Of course when his contract made the national news, the company he agreed to advertise enjoyed the benefit of having their product identified by name in national stories. Not too shabby of a fee for all that name recognition. Fischer reaped the biggest purse in this year’s fad; others have performed the same service for much less.
Using foreheads for advertising began in Europe with short-term tattoos that college students agreed to wear in public spots for three or four hours a day where others could see them, be shocked and ask their friends, “did you see the ad for company X on Suzie’s forehead?” The European pay, equivalent to $6.83 per hour, nowhere neared what Fischer received, but insured the students cash for a night out. Their temporary job in advertising differed little from the sandwich sign boards people have worn as they walked the streets near an establishment.
Quickly e-Bay proliferated with auctions of others wanting to tap into the market. In April, the News-Times received an e-mail announcing a new website: BodyBidz.com, “a fantastic online auction community that brings together businesses seeking an alternative way to get their brand, products, or website in front of their target audience and those willing to lease their body parts and ‘get branded’ via temporary and sometimes permanent tattoos,” the e-mail said. A recent check of the website revealed one auction amidst several empty web pages where prospective ad wearers could list a specific body part for rent.
eBay continues to carry auctions for body advertisements, but the final bids have sharply declined. Even eye-popping pictures of models receive closing bids of $100 or less for agreeing to a month of wearing a company’s logo somewhere noticeable on their body.
The novelty that netted Fischer over $1,000 a day has paid others something closer to $3 or less per day.
Hopefully the final gong sounded last week with an AP story that Kari Smith, 30, of Salt Lake City, Utah had auctioned off the right to tattoo a one line ad on her forehead … for $10,000. If she lives be 75, that computes to about 61 cents a day. Smith’s eBay auction attracted more than 27,000 hits and 1,000 watchers. Bidding reached $999.99 before the winner agreed to meet Smith’s minimum asking price of $10,000.
Smith, said the money will give her 11-year-old son a private education, which she believes he needs after falling behind in school. “It’s a small sacrifice to build a better future for my son,” she said. “To everyone else, it seems like a stupid thing to do. To me $10,000 is like $1 million,” she said.
Tattoo artist Don Brouse said he and his staff spent nearly seven hours Wednesday trying to talk Smith out of putting the website of the winning bidder above her face. When he did go through with it, he kept the inch-tall letters close to her hairline, where bangs or a hat could provide some cover.
Cover-ups she will undoubtedly seek as avidly as she did the cash – once she realizes she resolved her family problem with a passing fad that left her permanently marked for a business that may not last as long as she does.
(Joan Hershberger is a reporter at the News-Times.)


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