Ian Usher – the publicity stunt
The lovelorn former rug salesman Ian Usher, who put his life in Australia up for sale on the internet was not leaping for joy last night. I am not persuaded that after months of media and online interest that this life auction was genuine. It has all the hallmarks of an elaborate PR scam. I congratulate who ever cooked up the stunt but what has it achieved? Certainly eBay gained the principal receipts from all the coverage. But the story does not quite add up and there are some tell tale signs that the stunt is struggling to find a satisfactory exit. The bidding on eBay closed on Sunday and reached nearly $384,000 – an amount Usher said his house in Perth was worth on its own. The wires were given an interesting sound bite “I guess I’m a little bit disappointed at the final price, I’d hoped it to be a little higher than that, but I am committed to selling and moving on and making a fresh start.”. If this whole thing was for real then why did Usher decline to reveal the buyer’s identity, or what his next step would be?