Filed under: Humor, iPod Family, Odds and ends
iPod shadow dancer can't afford iPod
Mandy Coulton (not pictured) is one of the dancers in Apple's very successful dancing silhouette advertisements for the ubiquitous iPod. This in and of itself isn't newsworthy, however, what if I told you that Mandy can't afford to buy herself an iPod?Ok, still not that newsworthy but it is kinda fun to read about. It seems that Apple paid Ms. Coulton a mere $1500 to dance her fanny off in the commercial but what with rent and car payments Ms. Coulton couldn't afford the $400 for an iPod (I wonder if she knew about the Shuffle or the mini). Now before you start mocking her (though I may have started already) she had this to say for herself, "At the time, $1,500 seemed a lot of money - but now my picture is absolutely everywhere. But I'm not bitter or anything."
Found via Asymptomatic.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MILE said 7:15PM on 8-25-2005
Oh, come on...was that the only job she ever had...?! I'm pretts sure she made a few more bucks here and there...! And besides, in one of the articles it's said that her husband is some kind of stockbroker or financial consultant or so...!?
Can't afford an iPod...sure...! ;)
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Penginkun said 9:36PM on 8-25-2005
Her husband is a venture capitalist? He's got to be the poorest VC I've ever heard of. I make $17k a year and *I* have an iPod.
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jbelkin said 9:39PM on 8-25-2005
While artists and ad-heads will appreciate the 'universality' of the ipod shoadow people - that by not seeing their ethnicity or even their face, they is us and we is them, etc, etc ...
But bean counters can appreciate if they do not see your face OR you do not have any speaking lines, you do not get any residuals for TV (You never get residuals for print unless they love you so much they start slapping you mug on different things but then it's back to the negotiating table).
So, $1,500 is a pretty decent payday but being a newbie/struggling actor does mean a lot of expenses, a dance class here, an acting class ther, $400 for headshots, etc, etc, etc ... so it's understandable ...
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Catt said 9:44PM on 8-25-2005
Hey get off of it! $400 is a nice chunk of change when you have lots of bills to pay. I only have an Ipod coz my friends helped out for my birthday :-) Not eveyone has money to blow on gadgets folks!
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narco said 10:52PM on 8-25-2005
If she thought $1,500 was too little, she should have asked for more. But then she ran the risk of not getting the job, so then she probably would have not had the $1,500 to buy ANYTHING. This is obviously a publicity stunt, and based on the coverage this story is getting, it totally worked.
Fishes,
narco.
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Iso Grifo said 11:41PM on 8-25-2005
I happen to know a model that is in Apple advertisements, and along with her modeling pay, she was given at least one 20GB iPod. I don't know if she got more than one iPod, but I know that my brother has absconded with said iPod.
Come to think of it, he's got the better deal... dating a model and a free iPod. Hmm.
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jen segrest said 2:00AM on 8-26-2005
her ad and picture are here:
http://www.pixelbomb.com/blog/2005/08/15/the-bod-behind-the-ipod.html
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iFelix said 3:54AM on 8-26-2005
Sounds like she was just seeking publicity...
...or her husband wouldn't buy her one!
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Pedro said 5:07AM on 8-26-2005
Fanny means something completly different here in the UK.
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fannymagnet said 6:18AM on 8-26-2005
whatever she was paid, a job is a job. i think it's very sad indeed that it was more than his royal jobsworth to give her an ipod that only cost more than 25% of the fee she was paid, especially given her personal cirumstance and the revenue generated for apple by said ad. "i'm the dancer in those famous and exclusive ads but i can't afford one of those things nor would they give me one". tragic commercial greed used against her better interests - i bet if she demanded a higher fee or asked for more (like maybe a free ipod perhaps pretty please) they would only have said one thing to her: next. typical jobs.
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fannymagnet said 6:22AM on 8-26-2005
"i'm the dancer in those famous and exclusive ads but i can't afford one of those things nor would they give me one".
sorry it wasnt a quote from anywhere. i was just verbalizing.
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JC said 8:23AM on 8-26-2005
Hey she is even on ebay?! That's classic.
She can't afford to get an iPod but by the time this post hit, I bet someone somewhere will give her one now.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7536415681
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Scott Gardner said 9:41AM on 8-26-2005
Having worked as a model (a couple eons ago) in fashion (e.g., Versace), I'll tell you that there is a "catch 22" concept. The more big tear sheets you have (i.e., print ads you've appeared in, which you literally tear out of the publication and put in your book), the more interest you'll get just because of those tear sheets. It's getting that first big tear sheet that is the challenge. So, that was Mandy's big break, and if her agent hasn't clean up on that opportunity for her--which she obviously hasn't if she can't afford a freakin' iPod!--she should find a new agent!
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ASDavis said 10:59AM on 8-26-2005
I heard that she danced before there were minis or shuffles and the standard iPod was 400 bucks at the time.
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Nate MC said 12:14PM on 8-26-2005
$1500 for a day's work.. sign me up!
Scott is right, in modeling you have to get the tear sheets that's what it's all about. Plus I know for a fact that there are models that get paid a helluva lot less.
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DerekJ said 12:44PM on 8-26-2005
Boo Hoo Hoo.
Yet another attractive white girl that we all pity.
Can anyone say Aruba?
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Wheels said 1:15PM on 8-26-2005
Oh, from looking at her auction, she said she was a DANCER. Wink Wink, Nod Nod.
"She said she was a dancer. If I believed it, it was my business
She surely knew a thing or two about control.
Next to the bar we hit the samovar. She almost slipped right through my fingers.
It was snowing outside and in her soul.
Well, maybe you're a dancer, and maybe I'm the King of Old Siam.
I thought it through... best to let the illusion roll.
I wouldn't say I've never heard that tale before,
my frozen little senorita,
but if your dream is good, why not share it when the nights are cold?"
from the song "She Said She was a Dancer" by Jethro Tull
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glad said 5:54PM on 8-26-2005
#15 - damn right sign me up to!
#16 - ouch, not sure if she's that attractive though good job she was only in shadow!
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ScottBruin said 3:40AM on 8-27-2005
Iso Grifo, that's actually incorrect. A friend that I went to high school with was in the same ad (the roller skating one) seeing as he's a semi-professional roller skater.
I ran into him at the beginning of the summer and mentioned how I'd heard he'd been in said ad. He complained that he "didn't even get to keep the iPod."
Seems like Apple doesn't give them away for free. = (
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Oliver said 5:06PM on 8-30-2005
the grammar in this article is atrocious.
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