Yes that’s right, eBay are offering one person the chance of filming their own Christmas message, which will be broadcast on the eBay homepage and seen by millions of people over the festive session in order to raise money for the NSPCC.
If you want to rival the Queen and give your own Christmas message to millions of people or have something important to say to someone special that you want the world to hear where better than on eBay? Your message will be seen by approximately 15 million people on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That’s three times as many people that watched the Queen’s speech in 2006 which was watched by 5.7 million Brits.
Richard Kanareck, eBay spokesperson said “Plenty of things have been sold on eBay, but this is the first time that people have been able to bid for the site itself.”
The auction for the eBay homepage is live on eBay and ends at 7pm on 13th December. 100% of the money raised will go to benefit the NSPCC and Childline.
14 Responses
“The winner’s Christmas message … cannot express any religious or moral beliefs. http://www.ebay.co.uk reserve the right to edit the filmed message in any way it sees fit.”
Ho ho ho. Merry Christmas. I mean happy holidays … of course.
I think I’ll be sticking to Queenie.
So, no wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, then? I wouldn’t be in favour of anyone using it as a platform for evangelism, but it is a religious holiday, after all!
It used to be “don’t mention the war”, now it’s “don’t mention the season”.
I think you’d be ok to say “Merry Christmas”, just not to make it into a Christmas day church sermon 😛
“CHRIST” “MAS”
if yer cant mention your religious belief on the day that has been set aside especially to celebrate christianity when on earth can you ,the worlds gone crackers
and I am a dedicated atheist
lol @ northumbrian could not have said that better myself!
I notice the auction is for pre-approved bidders only, I thought that feature had been removed from ebay.co.uk 😉
Well spotted Steve, the original announcement read “This feature [pre-approved bidding] will remain in place only for high-profile charity auctions.
So that will be no pagan or atheistic overtones either then?
….
Maybe, happy “present” day would be more suitable?
Christians banned from Christmas by Ebay!
So my Nativity scene is banned?
😉
Not very in keeping with the “spirit” is it?
Mark your accusations of banning anyone is incorrect and grossly overstated. No no has been banned from Christmas, eBay have simply stated that their home page isn’t a forum for preaching.
“eBay have simply stated that their home page isn’t a forum for preaching.”
if Christianity cant be preached on CHRISTMAS day when can it be ! ebay should stick to auctions and not stick their nose into religious days then, if thats the case
and I repeat I am a dedicated atheist,
whats next?
no mention of Ireland on St Patricks day , no mention of London when discussing the 2012 olympics,
or you cant mention Islam in a Ramadan message
which makes me ponder
I wonder if ebay would dare dictate what could be mentioned if it were an islamic holy day
Reads this head in hands, exactly the same conversation is happening on the power seller boards – so to save time, forgive me for cutting and pasting
I think eBay have done is perfectly sensible, as what to one person is permissable and correct, to another is extremeism, terroism or just plain stupidity. It is a case of judgement, and as a “venue” one would imagine eBay would not like to make that judgement call
Say someone won the prize, and that hadn’t been stipulated – then decided they wanted to promote something which others think is disagreeable rightly or wrongly, and I am not going to suggest anything you insert what you like there, then eBay say No, sorry we are not broadcasting that, at best the NSPCC lose the money, at worse, eBay gets sued, and blamed for inciting….. whatever
Great………. Just what sellers need, another eBay court suit, and something else to knock confidence in the market,and potentially alienate the buyers
I for one, am thrilled by the idea, its brilliant, and as the festive season to me is for Children and as far as I know the NSPCC is for all children
I do not think it could have been done better and that is my honest opinion.
Kindest wishes
December greetings to anyone who wants them
and Bah Humbug to the miserable ones
Suz x
What’s NEXT North?
Surely you mean “what’s already happened”….
Ebay.ie had no traditional St Patricks day promotion this year, and kept a low profile, mainly because they had just cut international visibility from .ie , and a promotion would be just encouraging us to sell arran sweaters and Leaprechaun figurines to ourselves…
There was already a London 2012 debacle, when the Scum ‘news’ paper, earlier in the year, made up a scurrilous jingoistic fairy story about how the Red Arrows were “banned” from the opening ceremony on the grounds that they reinforced the “Militaristic British” stereotype. The fact that the story was revealed as balderdash, and angrily countered by the ground staff who allegedly endorsed it, this didnt stop the debate creeping on to the messageboards of Ebay and elsewhere, claiming violation of rights and heritage..
And as far as Islam is concerned, well, the same “banning” that ebay have apparently slapped on the Christians goes just as much for any Islamic competition winner who wants to wish the world a peaceful Eid ul-Adha They are plum out of luck, due to the standard terms and conditions accepted by broadcast media worldwide.
I personally would have thought most Christians would have been too busy Celebrating the Birth of Christ, and Thanking the lord for whatever gifts they had received throughout the year while in the company of either loved ones or peaceful solitude to be worried about what was occurring on the homepage of a business site on the Lords own special day of rest. But that’s just me. I reckon it’s a storm in a teacup that wont be whipped into a frenzy no matter how many Freinds of Jesus spin the cup.
I think it was intended more as a social comment Chris than anything else.
This to me smacks of political correctness and it saddens me that Ebay would take the stance that no spiritual emphasis is acceptable on Christmas Day.
Why?
Why, none at all?
Like I said elsewhere, it is their site and they can do what they like, but that does not stop people disagreeing with it or people disagreeing with those that disagree with it.
🙂
I think North has grasped my point.
I am not actually that bothered if truth be told, but thought it worthy of a social comment as the subliminal commercialisation of Christmas is one thing, but the banning of spiritual emphasis is a whole new step…
An interesting one.
Mark