Another way to drive hit count

Jack points out this story which I saw but forgot to blog about the hot new trend in fundraising: Nekkid calendars.

In today's precarious economy, charities seeking to raise money are finding that bake sales just don't cut it anymore. But stripping sure does.

Taking it all off is really, ahem, taking off as a new crop of bare-all calendars featuring plain folks shedding their inhibitions for worthy causes is on sale for 2003.

The groups range from female wool spinners seeking to confront "the ageism and sizeism in our culture" to the Rotary Club in Brattleboro, Vt.

The Rotarians convinced a whopping 53 men -- bankers, lawyers, real-estate agents and physicians -- to appear mostly nude in their 2003 "Men of Brattleboro" calendar.

"Some men were reserved and needed convincing," said organizer Tom Fegley, who said proceeds will go to Rotary-supported charities. "Others laughed, and then the clothes fell to the floor faster than a prom dress."

The charitable groups all say they were inspired by the highly successful "Ladies of Rylstone" in England. Those pillars of their community, ages 45-60, posed nude for a calendar to generate funds for leukemia research. Their 1999 calendar was so popular that it was published again in 2000 and wound up generating an eye-popping $700,000.

It's just a matter of time before someone proposes a calendar featuring nekkid bloggers. We already have Hoopty Mike's Rack Browser, after all, so it's not like this is a huge stretch. How many extra hits per day would you need to get in order to bare your bum to the world?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 04, 2002 to Society and cultcha