Voluntary Sponsorship of Linux? 59
shift8key asks: "Last year, a friend asked me whether I would sponsor his NASCAR race car.
The sponsorship came cheap and I decided to do it. Since I did not have a commercial message for my business, I had him put 'Linux.org'
and a penguin on the hood. He had more inquiries about it than any other message on his car. My community phonebook called me to ask if I would repeat the message there, and I think I will do it. Have any Slashdot readers
ever done any voluntary sponsorship of Linux? If so, what experiences did you have?"
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:2)
If you really want to make a difference, why not sponsor a child in some 3rd world country?
You linux dudes need to get some perspective on the world!
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:2)
Really help the children. (Score:2)
Even this guy had something sane to say about it, can you guess his name before you follow the link?
Do people have any concept of what it means to live on less than a dollar a day? There's no electricity. Do they have PCs that don't use electricity?" [fdncenter.org]
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of helping the third world, but sponsoring children is not the best way to go about it. There are a number of problems...
1) Many groups (for example, hunter gatherer groups) exist on a communal basis, sharing the food they gather (or hunt...) and working together for the common good. Sponsoring a child in one of these communities can make one family materially better off than the others and this can cause a breakdown of their community.
2) The groups promoting this child sponsorship are often missionary organisations (although they are not always keen on presenting this in their publicity). There is therefore an incentive for familys to 'embrace' Christianity in order to gain sponsorship. This destroys traditional religion & community identity. You may feel that promoting Christianity is a good thing, but ask yourself whether bribary is a 'Christian way' to go about it.
3) We (as a western society) are vulnerable to images of suffering children. But it is the communities that need our help, so they can provide for their own children. We also should be careful not to send the message to these desperate people that it is necessary to have a child to get help.
This information is not based on journalism or conjecture but based on a report (I think by a UN body or something similar) about the activities of such charities, notably World Vision, in the Amazon area.
I would encourage you to make whatever contributions you can to help people in desperate circumstances (in your own country or abroad) but please target your donations carefully.
This is not a troll.
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:2)
Granted, Bayer AG has given a lot to the world: Asprin and Heroin.
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:2)
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:2)
Didn't they also participate in many of the experiments performed at concentration camps during the holocaust? I seem to remember hearing something of that...
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
And it gets published as 'science' every day. Liberals defend the Kinsey Institute virulently.
I'm not excusing what Bayer did during the Holocaust. I'm just saying 'look further, at what organizations closer to home have done.'
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:2)
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
1) it's NOT just rednecks...it's also a hobby for doctors, lawyers, etc who happen to enjoy going fast
2) there's a lot of science that goes into setting up a car correctly...sure, at some of the lower levels, it's not really paid attention to all that much...but at the Winston Cup and Busch levels, it is.
To hear my not-so-technically inclined younger brother talk about diminishing his rotational mass in his transmission by taking out gears that he didn't use...and for him to grasp the concept of cross-weights and the various modifications that can be made to help a car better grip the track...that's when I really developed an appreciation for it. There's more to it than just rednecks going around in circles.
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:1)
So, what are you saying? That NASCAR is successful, not because of the rednecks, but because of the country club set? And despite the rednecks? What are you saying, that the rednecks have tried to stop NASCAR? Nothing could be further from the truth. NASCAR has a predominantly blue-collar fanbase. NASCAR is successful due to the huge quantities of loud, brightly-colored, cheaply-made, but high-priced T-shirts sold. However, you are correct in your assertion that Bayer is a sponsor simply for the mass exposure.
Re:Targeted advertising (Score:2)
The one race I did go to (Busch series in NH), I was a guest of Bayer and had a grand old time. I would wager that only about 70% of the people there were blue-collar and only half of them could be considered REDNECKS. So, if only the REDNECKS showed up, then the place would've been 35% filled.
--Mike
Wow! (Score:3, Funny)
..... and no Tux Racer??? (Score:2)
awesome! (Score:3, Interesting)
how much is "fairly cheap" sponsorship?
Re:awesome! (Score:1)
Re:awesome! (Score:1)
Re:awesome! (Score:1)
Re:awesome! (Score:1)
Re:awesome! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:awesome! (Score:1)
photo of car (Score:1)
Steve
Re:photo of car (Score:1)
Re:photo of car (Score:2)
Now that's what I call a FAST penguin (Score:1)
Anyone with a faster penguin ? Perhaps a Tux sticker on the NASA space shuttle ?
Tux2000
Re:Now that's what I call a FAST penguin (Score:2)
While NASA would appreciate more funding, I don't think they want to scrape charred sticker remains off the shuttle after each mission.
Linux Fish (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Linux Fish (Score:1)
Re:Linux Fish (Score:1)
Everywhere I go people ask me about it. Once in a while a Linux user comes up to me and asks about it and I point them to Thinkgeek (where I bought it). Now there are at least 3 cars around town with GNU stickers - it's kinda nice to be part of such a silly thing.
Re:Linux Fish (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Linux Fish (Score:1, Funny)
That and my slashdot.org sticker.
Few people have asked about it. But I do enjoy pulling in
front of the Jesus and Darwin fish people too.
Most people assume it is a Jesus fish and ask about it.
And the Car Number/Driver? (Score:2)
Re:And the Car Number/Driver? (Score:1)
Re:And the Car Number/Driver? (Score:2)
I have! (Score:3, Funny)
I like to go around town with spraypaint and write EAT MORE LINUX on peoples cars. Then I lie in the gutter and twitch, and yell at people about how stupid they are for supporting the Evil M$ Empire.
Sales calls (Score:1)
I would suspect it's not because they love Linux though. Anyone who considers sponsoring a NASCAR race car as "cheap" is a great person for salescritters to contact for other advertising opportunities. BTW, if you want to place banner ads on my site I'll give you a great $25 CPM for 10 million of them.
Re:Sales calls (Score:1)
Pictures (Score:1)
NASCAR? Fantastic! (Score:2, Funny)
Tagging (Score:1)
hehe
Re:Tagging (Score:2)
The fact that they were essentially permanent [zdnet.co.uk] didn't help either.
-Sean