We’ve recently had sponsored blog posts, sponsored queues, now we even have sponsored species. Purdue University has decided to auction off naming rights for a new type of mammal....a new kind of bat to be precise.
Oh, and if bats aren't your thing, there are some Amazonian Turtles up for grabs too.
Perhaps, rather optimistically, the University was hoping to get a whopping $250,000 (£140k) for its wildlife conservation efforts. However the top offer as of Christmas Eve stood at a much more modest $5100. That means bidding is being reopened in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.
Just think, the possibilities are endless. Who needs one of those fake buy a plot of land on the moon schemes, when you, or a loved one can be immortalised in zoology textbooks and have your name called out at academic conferences for years to come.
Or if you are a brand, maybe the bats – which apparently subsist on flying insects (Raid or Rentokil anyone?) - could front a new ad campaign. You could even unveil the bats at the annual shareholders meeting. How awesome would that be!
Of course we are talking bats here, and not everyone would consider a bat naming entirely complimentary (see picture). So you could also use this as a great opportunity to throw some mud at a competitor, for example maybe British Airways should bid and name the creatures Virgin Atlantic.
According to the Chicago Tribune, this kind of thing isn’t unheard of in wildlife conservation circles. A gambling website outbid actress Ellen De Generes in 2005 to get the naming rights to a Bolivian monkey, while when you consider that a fish naming auction in Monaco raised $2 million, then perhaps Purdue University’s 250k goal isn’t so outlandish after all.
(Original source, The Balihoo Kennel)
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