Monday, June 06, 2005
Board on Baby
A woman in Philadelphia is offering her unborn child as potential advertising space. Placing ads on Craigslist and eBay, she’s asking for minimum bids of $1,000 to use her to-be-born baby’s clothing and other baby goods.
This is an interesting trend, from the woman who sold space on her cleavage for a temporary tattoo, to the stripper who sold space on her body for brand mnemonics.
I’m not a father, so I can’t say this for certain: While I laud the concept, because its true that cute babies end up being attention-grabbing things, I wonder if there something mildly sleazy about such an enterprise. Infants have no free will and depend on their caretakers to give them comfort and love. Selling space on their clothes and daipers seems to be just on the other side of ethics and human decency. Not that I can think of any specific harm that would come as a result. I’m sure the mother will pick brands that make sense for the situation...but still, there’s something about this that just doesn’t sit right with me.
Besides, who’s to actually monitor the mother to see if she’s giving the brand enough face time? Read more about the story here.