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Living in Walmart
Publicity Stunts
CNN is running a story about a college student who “lived” in a Wal-Mart for 41 hours. Skyler Bartels is a college student at Drake University who set out to spend a full week in a 24 hour Wal-Mart as both a test of endurance and the basis for a magazine article.
After only 41 hours, tired to the point of hallucination, Skyler decided to go home. He thought the project was a failure, but his college advisor (who he’d shared the idea with), called a local newspaper and things went crazy from there. And this is where I start to get jealous:
Then, The Des Moines Register, which had been contacted by Spaulding-Kruse, called to ask him about the experience. Once the story ran, TV networks began calling.
He also talked with a book agent, has been contacted by New Line Cinema about a movie concept and did a radio interview with National Public Radio.
And here I am toiling away trying to actually write the old-fashioned way (well, the new-fashioned internet way, I guess). Clearly, there are shorter paths to acclaim, whether or not they’re really lasting. This whole thing is making me wonder if I shouldn’t cook up some kind of crazy stunt to get some press coverage, and start pulling down the big bucks.
Interestingly, if you google Skyler Bartels, really the only writing you’ll see by him are a couple reviews on Amazon.com. Imagine how much more of a splash this type of story would make with the huge archive of articles I have available and the infrastructure of interlinked blogs and community of readers and commenters.
So I’m thinking about starting a contest to come up with some kind of simple and elegant stunt that I can pull off to help get me free press and move my writing career forward. Anybody want to help brainstorm ideas? What do you think are the elements which go into Skyler’s story which make it into a good solid human interest story?
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March 29th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
I don’t have any ideas, but I would suggest that you delete this whole post before you actually pull any stunts. I doubt anyone would give you publicity for a stunt that was pre-meditated to garner publicity.
Just a thought
March 29th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
ktulu, i disagree. there are people out there who deliberately develop plans to manipulate public opinion for profit. they are called the media. for good or bad, these people are sophisticated types making a contribution to society and making a good living doing it. in fact i will go as far as to say that they are the perfect meld of artist and entrepreneur. but for pure daring witness the million dollar website. this is a guy who sold pixels for a dollar a pop and sold a million of them. (that`s a million dollars, for those advanced beings who don`t deal in lower forms of existance such as money.)
the point of this rant is that tim deserves a payday. he is an artist and contributor and we tend to attach a dollar value to this kind of activity in our society………..at least some do.
the cynical or sceptical approach is that any contrived stunt will get panned in the media, but who`s to say what`s staged or not? the million dollar site got that one lad a million dollars.
March 29th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/
here`s the link. remember, this guy set out to deliberately do this via a stunt. his blog is linked at the top of the page.
March 30th, 2006 at 12:47 am
Great points Alistair. It’s funny though when you said that I deserved a payday, that I felt guilty about that, even still. One of the things I’ve been realizing a lot lately is that - yes - I want my website and my writing to succeed. But if my only goal is financial, then the gifts that I’ve been given will have been wasted. I guess what I’m struggling a lot with right now is three things that interlock: (1) what my gifts are, (2) how I can serve others with them, and (3) how I can be financially secure living that type of lifestyle.
This is sort of the hidden motivation between what I said in this post, along with the redesign of my site, and a lot of other things going on in my life.
March 30th, 2006 at 8:39 am
yes, it`s a journey more than a destination. money comes to those who ask. prosperity consciousness is one of alignment. guilt is the glue that binds us to inactivity. it is the way that people are conditioned to self-regulation. i have children. two boys, seven and ten. they aren`t guilty of anything. they are little terrors and there are points where the story of people dying for the sins of us all would take the edge off the racket………but we don`t have the right to do that to those we love. we have the choice to raise them in love and security and choosing to do good things out of compassion and when dad is trying to concentrate on work in the house the boys know to go outside or be a lttle quieter. hellfire and damnation or people being nailed to anything doesn`t enter into the equation.
how to deal with the guilt?
begin to know the difference between conscience and compassion. make the distinction. those of conscience will feel guilty in relation to those who have “less” or resentful (even though they deny it.) in relation to those who have more.
having compassion allows the understanding of the true nature of people and what money is as another element of human behaviour. the guilty have emotional reactions to money, that`s what causes the problems.
i grew up in a catholic household. my dad came from a poverty in the nort-east of england that went back generations in the coal mining villages and towns. the industry is dying but the culture and dogmas still remain as ghosts walking the streets. i was raised in a civil servants house. dad worked for the british and eventually the canadian government in science related jobs and was paid well for his expertise.
the ghosts still remained.
the ghosts are of conscience.
the solution is in compassion.
first for yourself.
this allows you to see clearly what you have to offer and how you will go towards providing these services.
people gladly pay for these services.
you are a person who gladly pays for services of value provided by others.
then, as you build your business, your compassion for others will have a foundation to grow upon.
the message of jesus was that. compassion. we are still talking about it 2000 years later.
March 30th, 2006 at 10:49 am
and i don`t think you necessarily need a stunt to make your business. inspiration and putting products into view would be a good start. pop occulture t-shirts. hats, mugs etc. get some cash flow going. one of your your strengths is in scolarship, so a book……..lulu is a place where books get published and posted. video interviews with people of interest in the gnostic realm. multi-media is becoming more useable for the average poster and hoster. this site could become a delivery system for your art and literature. there`s only one way to find out. short video clips are a great teaser for people and more another element of interest for visitors to this site.
i`m talking to my self too. i need to do more with my skills as well. it`s spring time and the buds are begining to bloom and so the ideas begin to come.
March 30th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Absolutely. It was this time last year when I revamped my site the first time, if you recall!
March 30th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
well, yes i do and it`s the time when we come out from under the blankets and heavy coats and into the sun once again. it`s a time for growth, action and running the length of soccer fields once again.