It was bound to happen at some point, I guess. Chen Guangbiao, a famous Chinese businessman and philanthropist, has recently launched a line of canned fresh air collected from various parts of China and Taiwan. The product is called “Chen Guangbiao: Nice Guy” and sells for about $0,80.
It’s no secret China has a huge air pollution problem, but while authorities don’t seem to be taking any action to resolve it, billionaire Chen Guangbiao, aka “Brother Biao” is trying to raise awareness in a very original way. He has recently started selling canned fresh air collected from “revolutionary” areas of China, including Jinggang Mountain in Jiangxi Province and some ethnic minority areas and Taiwan. “One only has to open the can, directly ‘drink’ it or put the nose close to the can to breath deeply,” Chen said. He also mentioned there is a chip in the can, and during the “packaging process”, when the negative oxygen ions reach a certain concentration the lid is triggered by the chip and closed. And since the air is compressed, it stays inside the can even without a lid, the quirky philanthropist claimed. Before the big launch of “Chen Guangbiao: Nice Guy” canned air, Brother Biao said he was confident of its success, because there are lots of people in big cities inhaling air mixed with vehicle exhaust every day who are dying for a breath of fresh air.
Chen first announced his big idea back in August, but it received some negative feedback from Internet users who accused the philanthropist of showing off and questioned his right to sell the air, since it doesn’t really belong to him. In the meantime, Brother Biao has changed his marketing strategy, and now says his not only fresh, but also comes from revolutionary areas of China. He’s also mentioned he will be donating part of the proceeds to the Chinese military, to support their effort in defending the Diaoyu Islands. And if that wasn’t enough t convince people to buy his canned air, he also told them to hold on to the empty cans, as he will buy them back in 10 years, for about$7 each.
But come on, nobody’s going to fall for the old canned air routine, right? Wrong, “Chen Guangbiao: Nice Guy” air cans were flying off the shelves from the first day they were introduced, and they sold out in a matter of days. Just goes to show you people will buy anything… It’s clear this wasn’t about making a profit, since Chen is actually a billionaire, and 100,000 cans at $0.80 is probably pocket change for him, but maybe he just likes to prove to himself that he can actually sell anything.
Sources: China Digital Times, China.org
