Man runs internet campaign raising funds to buy himself a Ferrari
In an effort that is especially crass given the Hurricane Katrina
situation, hunger, poverty, the existence of animal kill shelters and a multitude of other serious world
problems for which relief organizations struggle to raise funds, some tasteless fellow with enough web
skills to set up an online donation page is begging everyone with an internet connection for money to buy himself a
Ferrari. I know I sound biased (really?), but dude, seriously, why don't you put your skills to work for a little kid
who needs a bone marrow donor or a family who can't afford to put food on the table?
The worst part? He's raised 658.12 British pounds so far, or $1,208.87 USD. If you've donated to this guy, please post a comment explaining why — we're VERY eager to hear your story.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shoefly 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
We've got a guy on this side of the pond doing the same thing! He even claims to be the "original".
http://buymeaferrari.com/
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Mike 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
Heh... the sad thing is, if more people knew how to internet panhandle they would. I don't think he's all that unique in begging.
What's next though, a site to pay for Ferrari maintinence and 500 dollar oil changes? If he can't afford to buy the car, he can't afford to maintain/insure/own it.
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Sean Flanagan 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
Perhaps I'm just crass and uncompassionate, but I really don't see the problem with this. The Red Cross and other nonprofits take in billions of dollars each year in donations that get watered down by having to pay people to do "volunteer" work. This guy has raised just over $800 for himself, and doesn't give any apologies as to what he expects to use the money for. Others in the past have raised thousands at a time in donations to pay for bandwidth bills. What makes someone taking donations to buy a Ferrari any different?
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Slim 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
I just chatted with the guy who runs that site. Chat name was "ash". He wants a 430. He asked where I found out about his site and I sent him a link to this blog. Maybe he'll post something...
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davidr 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
At least he's not holding a rabbit hostage, threating to kill it if he doesn't raise enough money......
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Adrian 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
Well, I must say that it seems childish to be quite so insensitive and and self-centered. There are more important things in the world than making this guy happy; he should settle for whatever he has and know that he's better off than a lot of other folks.
On the flip side, it is, from at least an experimental point of view, a bold task, to see how many people can be so shallow as to fall for this guy's cheap and tasteless "sales-pitch" (buy me a Ferrari so I can be happy, and in return nor you nor anybody else gets anything other than a lame thankyou note).
At least he says he intends to auction the car off after one year with it. However, what would happen if he were to wreck the car or if it was stolen in the course of the year he has it with him? And how do we know the money is REALLY going into what he says, and it's not drug money what he wants?
Also, judging by his lacking grammar skills and disastrous spelling mistakes, I take that this "bloke" is probably a working-class Brit, and does not have any higher education than high school.
Plus, any well-structured "charity" that needs a certain amount of money to be successfull, has a guarantee that, if the target amount is not reached, the money is either refunded to the original contributors or given away to another pre-selected and pre-approved charity. This guy's self-charity doesn't offer anything of the sort.
My prediction, this guy's never going to reach his goal, as most people aren't shallow or stupid enough to donate. And, the money that's already in the charity will most likely disappear, as well the guy who's asking for it.
I sincerely hope that NOBODY, ANYWHERE, is stupid enough or shallow enough to donate to this guy. Specially when the American Red Cross, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and other well-founded and well-respected charities are eager to accept your money and put it into right and benefitial use into society.
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bill 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
Sean: yes, you are crass and uncompassionate. I mean, this guy can do whatever the hell he wants to get himself a nice car. That's fine. Everybody's entitled to a website and a crazy idea, right? But now you don't think anyone should donate to the Red Cross because some of the workers get paid? You think what they get paid even approaches what you get paid? My guess is no, and you don't have to drag bloated bodies out of houses, treat infectious diseases, or sleep in a tent. Sure, there are examples of over-paid leaders of non-profits and such, but they are hardly the norm. And if we stopped paying people to do "volunteer work" as you call it, you can bet there wouldn't be any volunteers to fill the positions. Certainly anyone who did would not be skilled, not be able to stick around for very long, or wouldn't be able to feed their own kids.
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Cap'n Crunch 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
He will have to pay taxes on this income if the taxing authorities figure this out.
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Brian 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
He is actually donating the car to a charity after he has driven it for one year. Still a rediculously dumb donation idea but at least it's not all bad.
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Sean Flanagan 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
bill, I didn't say not to donate to the Red Cross anywhere in my comments, I'm just saying that I don't see anything wrong with this news. The Red Cross does just fine, and I agree that without paying skilled professionals to do many of the tasks required it would be improbable to run a charity. But the point of the matter is: who cares if some dude wants to try to raise money for himself? Obviously, people know what's more important. Hence him only raising $800 versus Hurricane Katrina relief raising tens of millions (and clothes and additional money from yours truly). Now, if he actually made it to his goal within a reasonable time frame, then I'd be worried...
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Adrian 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
Also, if you check the webpage NOW, the donation meter reads 600.25 (that's BRITISH POUNDS), not 600 Euro, which would put it up to about 1,101.69 USD at the current exchange rate.
Horrible, just despicable, that anyone would rather donate to this guy's ego than to help other society-benefiting charities.
Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if this guy's running the charity inflation scheme, which basically consists of upping your REAL number of money collected to a higher number, so that more people having seen how much other people have invested in the charity, they feel more secure and willing themselves. This is kind of like using backwards-psychology on the everybody's doing it effect. The more people you have, the more people there will be. The more donations you have, the more donations you'll get.
An example would be my company's tsunami relief effort back in Jan 05. The first week, even after my co-organizer and myself sent countless memos regarding what we were doing, we got a little over $3000 and only some 180 people (out of 570 in our Miami branch) donated. After staying afterhours counting the donations on a Friday, we sent out another shorter memo just saying how much we got the first week. The memo was read by most employees the following Monday. By the next Tuesday, we had already matched what was received the very first week, and by the Friday of that week we had a grand total of $18,554 just in employee donations, with almost all of the employees having donated, some even more than twice.
So, that's more or less what I think this guy's doing in order to incentivate more (and larger) donations. His pumping up his real donation figures, in order to get more.
Watch it, I think this guy's really up to no good.
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John 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
This is capitalism and democracy at work, folks. You don't have to like it, that's your right, but he has the right to do it. In my opinion, more power to him if he can get people to donate to his cause, no matter how shallow I think it is.
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Margo 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
buying a ferrari is one thing. however, finding the money to pay for the service, petrol, tires and insurance is another thing. so good luck to the genious and all the thrill-seekers willing to waste their money on such a guy.
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DJ 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
Autoblog: "I know I sound biased (really?), but dude, seriously, why dont you put your skills to work for a little kid who needs a bone marrow donor or a family who cant afford to put food on the table"
Okay, hate to get political but I consider myself liberal and my frustration here is that the poor people around the world would still be poor regardless of this dudes website and donations.
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Tim UF 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
that rabbit thing was classic though, heh
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Homer 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
Maybe the people who donated to him have already donated to the Red Cross or other hurricane relief efforts.
When it comes down to it, people can do whatever the hell they want with their money - blow it on drugs, use it to pay for food, donate to some "worthy" charity, or donate it to some guy who wants to buy a Ferrari.
I could care less what people do with their own money, although I would like to hear someone's motivation to give to this site.
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retsel 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
i am going to hack his site and take it down....
WHAT...
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laserwizard 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
I applaud his efforts. Unlike some New Orleans member of the neighborhood profit sharing brotherhood, he isn't stealing what he wants. He may be begging, but he isn't smashing windows and towing it out.
I will likely donate two cents to his cause and will match this contribution to those who wish to remove property that isn't theirs just because of some reason other than survival.
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Bigel 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
No worse than the websites where people beg for money to pay off their credit cards or mortgages. These aren't destitute people; just selfish lazy over-spenders with poor money management. They live like kings. Meanwhile, hard working contributors to society are barely scraping by. But in a society where we worship materialism and people who exemplify it, we must now reap what we sow.
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Cameron 10:37PM (12/18/2005)
Has anyone read the site? He says he's keeping the car for a year then auctioning it off with the proceeds going to charity.
http://buymeaferrari.co.uk/charity.php
Odd that no one else noticed this part.
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