Voluntary Sponsorship of Linux?

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

[angelo]

Perhaps someone can counter with the BSD Daemon giving it to Tux. At least rednecks understand cornholing.

Re:Targeted advertising

[shift8key]

Yes, I understand NASCAR's redneck reputation, but rednecks also buy computers, and if this message converts just one person away from using Microsoft, it will have served its purpose.

Re:Targeted advertising

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a sad, sad man. There are more important things in life than computer operating systems, you know.

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

[shift8key]

I also sponsor two children in Nigeria.

Re:Targeted advertising

[shift8key]

Sure I could have, but I like to spread the little wealth I have around a bit. This PRIMARILY helps my friend who owns the car. I see your point, though: Advertising often seems so utterly wasteful. How about millions go into ads for, say, cosmetics?

Re:Targeted advertising

[Strog]

And you could sponsor several if you weren't wasting your time. Never good enough for you is it?

Re:Targeted advertising

[cpuffer_hammer]

He is helping the children by helping to build a stronger information commons. It is from that Info Commons that the real developments that will make life better come from.

Really help the children.

[kawika]

We could stop sending our toxic computer waste to their countries. We could stop quietly condoning their use of child labor in sweatshop conditions. They could use food, water, shelter.

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

[vidnet]

If You linux dudes imply that you're using Windows, then how come you didn't sponsor a few kids in some third world country instead of feeding the money to Microsoft?

Re:Targeted advertising

[tubabeat]

If you really want to make a difference, why not sponsor a child in some 3rd world country?

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

[mjpaci]

NASCAR isn't successful because of the Rednecks, it's successful despite the Rednecks. Granted, Wal-Mart and Target do target the Redneck contingent, however, there's a lot of sponsorship to go around. Bayer AG sponsers a car in the Busch league. Why would a German Pharma company sponsor a car? BECAUSE A SHITLOAD OF PEOPLE WATCH NASCAR, NOT JUST REDNECKS.

Granted, Bayer AG has given a lot to the world: Asprin and Heroin.

Re:Targeted advertising

[mjpaci]

Meye speling sux.

Re:Targeted advertising

[adamjaskie]

Bayer AG has given a lot to the world: Asprin and Heroin.

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

[SN74S181]

And the Kinsey Institute performed sexual-response experiments on young boys that basically involved forced masturbation. In several instances of published 'experiment' reports, it's clear that crying young boys were 'manipulated' for hours.

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

[vrt3]

Bayer also supplied a lot of the toxic gasses the Germans used in WW I.

Re:Targeted advertising

[clearcache]

Yep - I didn't pay much attention to NASCAR until my younger brother started running a car in a regional division. (Since they are much more affordable, sponsoring those cars is a LOT cheaper.) But, once I started attending each race and spending time in the pits, I realized 2 things:

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

[dohcvtec]

NASCAR isn't successful because of the Rednecks

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

[mjpaci]

Not all blue-collar folks are Rednecks. Despite the fact that a lot of Rednecks watch NASCAR and a lot of people make fun of Rednecks, NASCAR is still the most watched sport in the USA. NASCAR wouldn't be as successful if ONLY Rednecks watched it.

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!

[Wuukie]

A real-life TuxRacer! Nice!

..... and no Tux Racer???

[Gruturo]

subject says it all

awesome!

[Hadlock]

i guess the important question everyone wants to know is...

how much is "fairly cheap" sponsorship?

Re:awesome!

[shift8key]

$300.00

Re:awesome!

[Hadlock]

where do i sign up? what size logo exactly do you get? 4"x12" is what i'm thinking. i don't watch a whole lot of NASCAR, but that seems like the smallest logical size, situated somewhere around the exhaust tip near the front of the rear wheel.

Re:awesome!

[shift8key]

Hard to say where to sign up -- I do not know that much about NASCAR. My friend's car runs in a small regional division, not on major televised races. If you really want to do this, just visit your nearest track -- car owners will fall all over you when they find out that you want to sponsor a car. As to the size, we used an enlarged penguin on the entire hood. Looks very nice.

Re:awesome!

[Arminius]

My best friend's dad fields a Bush series race car. A couple of years ago he told me he needs at least 50k a race from a sponsor (teams in Bush and Winston Cup spend at least 10k a race on tires). I wonder if any teams have approached Red Hat or simular large Linux companies for sponsorship for even one big race?

Re:awesome!

[oyenstikker]

I don't think NASCAR fans are really RedHat's target audience. Formula 1 or CART would probably be a better bet.

Re:awesome!

[dohcvtec]

This is essentially unrelated to Linux, but Sun, HP, IBM/Catia, SAP, AMD, and many other big players sponsor F1 and CART.

photo of car

[stevef]

Any chance you could make a photo of the car available?

Steve

Re:photo of car

[shift8key]

Working on it. Perhaps I should have spent the money on a better digital camera???

Re:photo of car

[Webmoth]

Just don't post the link here... unless you want to get slashdotted!

Now that's what I call a FAST penguin

[Tux2000]

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

[Oculus Habent]

Now that there is to be a commercial moon mission [slashdot.org], you might be able to get a sticker there...

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

[mshiltonj]

I have a Linux Fish [thinkgeek.com] on my car. Does that count?

Re:Linux Fish

[shift8key]

Yes, it definitely does. It also helped thinkgeek.com, because I just ordered one for my car. What experience did you have with the fish? Has anyone asked you about it?

Re:Linux Fish

[Universal Nerd]

I've got a GNU sticker on my car, it looks like one of the european national stickers.

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

[Brandon T.]

I've had one on my car for about 3 months now, and I haven't received a single inquiry yet. I do like to get in front of people with various jesus fish on the back of their cars in hopes that I either confuse them or piss them off :)

Re:Linux Fish

[Anonymous Coward]

I have had a Linux Fish (from TG) on my VW Scirocco for some time now.

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?

[Timinithis]

Its really hard to see all the logos on cars going 180+ MPH. What is the car and who is the driver? I'll also ask you to define "Fairly Cheap", someone already has, but if you see it here first...

Re:And the Car Number/Driver?

[shift8key]

First, this car races at a small regional track. $300 bought me the hood for one year. Whenever a car has a problem or spins out or whatever can happen, these cars go very slowly around the track and one can see the penguin extremely well.

Re:And the Car Number/Driver?

[HughsOnFirst]

This reminds me of the welding shop ( think roll cages ) that used to paint their sign on the bottom of the cars they sponsored at a local oval track when I was a kid. Made a great impression every time there was picture in the paper showing the bottom of a car crashing end over end.

I have!

[Hell O'World]

"Have any Slashdot readers ever done any voluntary sponsorship of Linux?"
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

[kawika]

My community phonebook called me to ask if I would repeat the message there...

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

[shift8key]

Correct, clearly not becuase they love Linux, in fact, I do not believe that the woman who does it even knows. Still, sponsorship of Linux gives me the opportunity to support my local phonebook, which did not publish last year because of lack of ads. This all works on a VERY SMALL scale, and $400 gets me the backpage (the best page) on the book.

Pictures

[cyber_rigger]

We want race car pictures, please.

NASCAR? Fantastic!

[vasah20]

Every driver should do this, since we all know that Linux never crashes. ;)

Tagging

[chizzad]

I tag sidewalks with Peace Love Linux.
hehe

Re:Tagging

[smoondog]

IBM did this here in San Francisco. And got in trouble [cnn.com]
The fact that they were essentially permanent [zdnet.co.uk] didn't help either.

-Sean