EZCNN 易英网

Rent Your Face as Advertising Space 人体活广告，商机无限

課文朗讀

課文中英文講解

繁體中文譯本

In the category of things that make you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” is the story of Andrew Fischer of Omaha, Nebraska. The 20-year-old came up with the unique idea of auctioning off his forehead as advertising space on eBay. The deal was that he would wear a temporary tattoo of the winning bidder’s company logo or website domain name right above his eyebrows for 30 days. When the media picked up on the story, Fischer found himself being interviewed by all of the major news networks. His appearance on the popular morning talk show Good Morning America attracted even more bidders to the online auction. In the end, the winning bid came from the company that makes the product SnoreStop, an anti-snoring medication. They paid the incredible amount of US$37,375 to lease Fischer’s forehead for a month.

安德鲁费雪来自美国内布拉斯加州的欧马哈市，他的故事是那种看了会让你感叹:「我当初怎么没想到这招?」之类的事情。这位二十岁的年轻人想到了一个在电子海湾网站上把自己额头当广告空间的拍卖的绝妙点子。交易的内容是他会在眉毛上方的部位纹上得标公司的商标或网址的暂时刺青，为期三十天。自从媒体得知这个消息之后，费雪发现所有主要的新闻网都争相要采访他。而他出现在广受欢迎的晨间脱口秀节目《早安美国》也为他的在线拍卖招来了更多的竞标者。最后是由一家制造止鼾药的公司得标，他们以三万七千三百七十五美金的天价租用费雪的额头一个月。

In the wake of Fischer’s success, eBay is now full of copycats offering to rent their foreheads, bellies, backs – actually, any body part that you can think of – as advertising space. However, none of these endeavors have come close to being as profitable as Fischer’s original online auction. Fischer says that it took him some time to get used to having the advertisement on his forehead and that some people laughed at him. People may be chuckling about Fischer’s forehead ad, but because he came up with the idea first, he’s laughing all the way to the bank.

在费雪的点子成功没多久后，现在电子海湾网站上有一窝蜂人有样学样地想出租自己的额头、肚皮、背部—事实上，是任何你想的到的身体部位—来做广告空间。然而，这些交易的获利都远远比不上最初费雪在线拍卖所获得的利润。费雪说他花了好一段时间来适应额头上的广告，也说有些人会嘲笑他。人们或许会嘲笑费雪的额头广告，但因为是他先想到这个点子，他可是一路笑着到银行去的。

－By Will Thelin

Vocabulary

category [ˋkætə͵gorɪ] n. 种类

come up with (针对问题等) 想出; 提供

auction off 拍卖掉

pick up on【口】了解到; 注意到

incredible [ɪnˋkrɛdəb!] adj. 难以置信的

endeavor [ɪnˋdɛvɚ] n. 努力

chuckle [ˋtʃʌk!] v. 咯咯地笑；暗自发笑

More Information

bidder [ˋbɪdɚ] n. 出价人；投标人

domain name【计算机】区域名称，域名

snore [snor] v. 打鼾

lease [lis] v. 租得; 出租

in the wake of 继...之后

copycat[ˋkɑpɪ͵kæt] n. 模仿者

laugh all the way to the bank: 一路笑着到银行去的  Fig. to be very happy about money that has been earned by doing something that other people might think is unfair or that they criticized; to be pleased about the profit earned from doing something