Renting out body parts seems to be a trend that’s catching on fast. We first heard of it when it was used by this New Zealand woman on her backside, and then there was a German man who tried to rent out his face for tattooed ads. The latest to join the bandwagon are a couple of British 22-year-olds, Ross Harper and Ed Moyse. Unlike the others however, they aren’t using tattoos. Their concept, called Buy My Face, is to sell their faces to a different ad campaign every day, which are painted on using face paint. The boys are trying to raise enough money to pay off their student debts, which amount to £50,000 ($80,000). So far, they’ve managed to make £30,000 ($47,000).
The goal of Buy My Face isn’t only to get people to look at the advertisements that are printed on their faces. The advertising extends onto their website, which works by directing online traffic to the advertiser’s web page. Harper and Moyse paint ads on their faces and then photograph or film themselves doing funny things. Advertisers can pay for them to do several stunts, such as skydiving or plunging into cold waters. All this is put up on the website, along with the name of the day’s advertiser. When the duo started off on October 1st, their first ad went for exactly £1. But they’ve managed to sell their faces every single day since then, and today the rates have moved up to £400 a day.
Photo: BuyMyFace.com
Marketing experts are impressed with the concept created by Harper and Moyse. However, the duo knows that their success won’t be long-lived. “What we’re doing is a gimmicky thing,” admits Harper. And they plan to wrap up their business by September, once they’ve made the money they need. They call this stint an entrepreneurial gap year, and hope to set up a more serious business after this. We don’t know how long Buy My Face will last, but until then you can have some fun going through their website. They have some nice pictures on the Blog, and I learned that the faces are not just reserved for businesses, but individuals too. You can purchase a date for your birthday, or as a unique way to propose to your beloved. The only unavailable day is Christmas, as they plan to auction the special date for charity.
Photo: BuyMyFace.com
