Professorial Product Placement

“Viewing the latest Lady Gaga video, with its ten product placements, I’m inspired by the thought: Why don’t professors do product placements, too?”

wonders Eric Schwitzgebel, Professor of Philosophy at University of California at Riverside. There are, according to the professor, many potentially lucrative and as-yet-untapped opportunities – for example to promote products such as fizzy drinks or high-fashion items during presentations, lectures, and even in academic publications. Thus he has recently made the following standing offer to prospective advertisers:

“For $2,000,000 U.S., I will give over three inches square of real estate on my check [sic], for an appropriately tasteful tattoo by a company that’s not too evil. (Evil companies will have to pay a surcharge sufficient to bring the overall utilitarian considerations back into balance.) To preserve what’s left of my dignity, I will immediately donate half the amount to Oxfam – which should, conservatively, save at least ten people’s lives.”

Adding :

“(That seems worth it, doesn’t it? Would you want to face the ten people who died because you weren’t willing to tattoo your face?)”

Posted by Martin Gardiner on
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
under , Improbable investigators.