British athlete puts self on eBay

Fair play to him, he (or whoever it was) came up with a good publicity grabbing idea. Hope he does well. The auction is a little sparse on the details of what this kind of deal entitles you to though, will appear in your adverts etc?

Just out of interest....

.....which eBay category is that auction in?

He's a runner, but four years of injuries would suggest he's unreliable, so I'm guessing "Motors"?

Only got 2928 hits at the time of looking.

Sponsor him, and you can get your name associated with yet another British clunking failure in the heats!

Trades description

Condition: New other (see details): A new, unused item with absolutely no signs of wear. The item may be missing its original packaging..

I would suggest he is very much in the used state considering his injury problems of the last four years.

"A new, unused item with absolutely no signs of wear. The item may be missing its original packaging, or the original packaging has been opened or is no longer sealed. The item may be a factory second, or a new and unused item with minor defects."

Hmmm - false advertising?

Official Olympic Sponsors Only!

That sponsorships going to be fine until he tries to actually get into the Olypic Village and the Trademark Police order him to take off his clothes and or he's not getting in.

Objectification of men

This is absolutely appalling. How can he demean himself like this. Selling his body for the delectation of sports fans. It is setting back the emancipation of men by decades. We should be valued for our mental attributes, not the quality of our body. It is sending entirely the wrong message to the young people of this country.

The following is a generalisation from the the Wikpedia article on the objectification of women. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_objectification

Objectification refers to the practice of regarding or treating another person merely as an instrument (object) towards one's pleasure, and a object is a person who is regarded simply as an object of gratification or who is attractive. Objectification is an attitude that regards a person as a commodity or as an object for use, with little or no regard for a person's personality or sentience. Objectification is most commonly examined at a societal level, but can also arise at an individual level.

The concept of objectification is an important idea in feminist/masculanist theory and psychological theories derived from feminism/masculanism. Many regard objectification as objectionable and as playing an important role in gender inequality. Some social commentators, however, argue that some modern men and women objectify themselves as an expression of their empowerment over the other gender, whilst others argue that increased sexual freedom for women, gay, and bisexual men has led to an increase of the objectification of men. The idea of objectification has also been an important area of discussion and debate in the area of ethics.