Filed under: Hardware, Cult of Mac, Mods, Macbook Pro
MacBook Pro Advertising Etching
When Leah Culver needed a new laptop, but had no money with which to buy it, she got creative. In exchange for $150 toward the purchase of a new machine, Leah offered local companies one square inch of advertising space on the back of the MacBook. What at first looked like a feeble attempt to raise the required funds soon evolved into a successful exercise in the power of the community at large, and Leah quickly had enough cash to buy her laptop.
The final product looks pretty damn good, especially when compared to projects like The Million Dollar Homepage. Unfortunately, some of the images given to Leah were too low contrast to be rendered properly by the Epilog laser etcher. In any case, though, Leah has a shiny and unique new machine on which to work, and the companies who contributed have a presence wherever she takes the notebook out.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Martin said 7:39AM on 11-23-2006
looks pretty good!
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MySchizoBuddy said 7:41AM on 11-23-2006
the bottom 3 on the right are too light and uneven.
will they the money back
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Christy said 7:52AM on 11-23-2006
Looks too motley, but the idea is uncommon. Leah is quite smart.
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thierry said 7:57AM on 11-23-2006
Yes, yet another place to see advertising, as if most of everything we see is not enough... why did she not get he face tattoed also, i am sure she can get mor emoeny..
pretty soon we won't be able to go anywhere and look at anything that is not publicised all over the place
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David said 7:59AM on 11-23-2006
Great idea that looks fantastic. I am sure the value of the adverts are increased by the fact that Leah is very attractive. Looks like everyone is a winner here.
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wackybit said 8:21AM on 11-23-2006
....and then she ebays it as "customized MacBook Pro" to get even more money than originally purchased for, then buy a MacBook
:P
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Oje Ihonvbere said 8:48AM on 11-23-2006
Yes, well there's always that solution. Every time you need some money, just sell your soul to the corporate machine.
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Galley said 8:53AM on 11-23-2006
If this were some ugly chick, it probably wouldn't have worked out so well, but Leah is extremely cute. You gotta hear her say "rasterbation"!
http://www.leahculver.com/
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Jon said 9:55AM on 11-23-2006
She looks kind of like the chick in Pulse (terrible movie).
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thierry said 10:10AM on 11-23-2006
and she really respects the people that paid for he macbook pro at the bottom of her page:
'
Don't worry, your laser-etched ad will probably be around longer than your internet company!
'
wow, very gratefull she is
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Chet said 10:17AM on 11-23-2006
For all you guys that are crying and moaning about the corporate machine and advertising what do you think the big Apple logo is on the lid of your laptops, "oh but that lights up so that is cool". Get a life hippies!
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Scott F said 10:25AM on 11-23-2006
Or, how to make the sexiest laptop into the ugliest laptop.
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Scott F said 10:25AM on 11-23-2006
Notice that she had prises for best ad and biggest donor. The prises? An Applr yo-yo mouse and a zip drive. Ya-effing-hoo!
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south said 8:07PM on 11-23-2006
so how much did Apple pay for that huge shining advertisement in the middle?
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Q said 1:08AM on 11-24-2006
screw the laptop. how much to put my logo on the girl? hiiiiooooohhh!
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bootle said 3:35AM on 11-24-2006
Hmmm, $150/square inch?
The 15" macbook pro is 14.9 inches by 9.6 inches. 14.9*9.6*150 = 20,304. That's a lot of macbook. Of course, you can't use EVERY square inch, you'll lose some from the apple logo, and the rounded edges, and you probably won't be able to pack every logo in without wasting space. But even if you assume only half the space was used, that's still TEN GRAND. And I think she managed to sell more than half.
Maybe she just stopped collecting when she reached the breakeven point?
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Jonathan Allen said 10:41AM on 11-24-2006
It seems like she more than broke even. She got all the upgrades and still had to have the money to have it engraved. I'm a musician and I'm considering this to get a new instrument.... I'm not above the corporate machine.
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iamdigitalman said 1:54PM on 11-24-2006
@11 not unless you fill the apple log with epoxy, like I did, and get rid of it.
just another sad attempt at trying to get somthing for cheap.
Advertising is evil.
Infact, i'm not too hot about the shit on this site. good thing I can block them out.
"powered by..." "sponsored by" "brought to you by" and all that other stuff they use to sneak in a company's name into everything today, not to mention commercials, print ads, popups, text ads,banner ads, IntelliTXT, and wort of all, corporate named stadiums and other non corporate public buildings.
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John Meche said 2:46PM on 11-25-2006
So, I've been reading all the comments to the Leah Culver story, hearing all this business about how she wouldn't have gotten her Macbook if she didn't have breasts. Well, I got sick of it, and decided to prove the dissenters wrong (I hope)! I'm in a situation that is not too far from Leah's, and I decided to try my hand at getting an advertisement embedded Macbook Pro.
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ChillyWilly said 9:10PM on 11-25-2006
How much did Apple pay to get the center of the MacBook Pro??? ;-)
Seriously, kudos to Leah for finding a way to get the MacBook Pro she wanted for free. Nothing wrong with that, even if it is exploiting advertising.
To those that think advertising is evil, I can see how too much can be annoying, but if it's done with a clever slant, I see nothing wrong with it.
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