Facing a shortage of qualified candidates, a Shanghai sperm bank last week launched an unusual ad campaign to attract donors – promising a cash subsidy big enough to buy the latest iPhone.
The intriguingly named Shanghai Human Sperm Bank (we confess, we weren’t aware the city is home to non-human sperm banks...) released the ad on WeChat, reports Shanghai Daily. The ad, which featured pictures of the iPhone 6S, said the RMB6,000 cash subsidy for donating sperm would be enough to cover the cost of the highly coveted handset.
The scheme apparently worked – the sperm bank used to receive about 20 consultation calls per day; since the ad was released last week, they’ve been calling 200 to 300 applicants who they deem qualified, chosen from an even larger pool of candidates who registered on the sperm bank’s website.
“Last year we received only about 4,000 applicants. From them, only 25 percent were good enough,” said Chen Xiangfeng, a doctor with the sperm bank.
“The requirements for donated sperms are very high. We have to filter all the applications for family disease, height and education background.”
Qualified donors need to be college graduates taller than 5’5 and free of disease, reports the Guardian.
According to Chen, the material reward of an iPhone may not be the only motivating factor enticing donors to come forward; there’s also that unbeatable sense of satisfaction one gets from lending a helping hand.
“Actually we’ve also seen an increase in applications from white-collar workers, who consider sperm donation as important as blood donation. They consider it an honorable thing to become a qualified donor,” Chen explained.
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