This week’s question is being brought to you by the letters J, O, H and N and the number 229.
In the past few years, we’ve seen FIRST attract the attention and endorsement of a number of celebrities - from Mandy Moore to Will Smith to Chuck Yeager.
The opinions and comments of celebrities can sometimes have far-reaching effects in our society, for both good and bad reasons, and with good and bad effects.
Question of the Week 5-18-03: What celebrity would make a good spokesperson for FIRST? Why?
The implications of gaining national media exposure through celebrities are interesting. It seems like a lot of good could come of it, but as with anything, there are risks. Let’s see what you all think about those benefits and risks and which celebrity, if any, should be starring in some “Got FIRST?” commercials.
I would say someone that is flamboyant, or better yet, how about this
Have the guy (name slipping my mind) who used to play superman before he got in an accident. If we can get him on an Ibot, we have an example of what first is with Dean
Nice question John
[edit]Fixed that stupid fatal car crash deal[/edit]
There are so many people that can endorse FIRST. There are a list of celebrities, but I believe that they are not necessary. What you need is to have is a group of people, that go around the country reaching out to every high school in the country, endorsing first. In the amount of money it would cost to buy commercial time and pay the celebrities, FIRST could afford to send nearly every school in the country a packet on the FIRST robotics program. I also think that FIRST should get political figures to endorse the program. It sure would be nice to hear President Bush to mention the FIRST robotics program during the state of the union address, or at any other time for that matter. I think that it also would be a good idea to have a team of FIRST people set up that can travel the country and help rookie teams create their programs. The more people we have looking for new teams and the more endorsing we do, the more teams we will have in the future. Keep in mind Dean’s Homework assignments that he gives to all of us at nationals. We are the future of FIRST. We need to recruit new teams. I would love to see 100+ new teams next year.
*Originally posted by DanielBCR *
**I would say someone that is flamboyant, or better yet, how about this
Have the guy (name slipping my mind) who used to play superman before he got in a fatal car crash. If we can get him on an Ibot, we have an example of what first is with Dean
I would sure want to see 100 rookie teams. I think it is possible. I personally have been working with a teacher from another school that knows of the program. I have been giving him information on the program, and he is thinking of getting a team made for next year. I think that if we all try, we can talk to other people we know and get new teams set up. People have said “who ever thought that it would get this big?” The way I see it, we are just getting started.
*Originally posted by George1083 *
**The most important thing for FIRST, imo, is a famous voice.
Carrot Top would be a PERFECT fit for FIRST. He’s an incredibly smart guy, and we all know how well he can sell a product (dial down the center, eh?). **
Hey one of the members on our team is nicknamed Carrot Top. He looks almost identical to him. We can get him to endorse us, know one will notice. lol
*Originally posted by George1083 *
**
Carrot Top would be a PERFECT fit for FIRST. He’s an incredibly smart guy, and we all know how well he can sell a product (dial down the center, eh?). **
I hope you’re kidding. Carrot Top is one of the most annoying people EVER, and I’m sure his presence would only serve to send people away.
I understand where you guys come from with peopel who have supported FIRST, Mandy Moore: please god never again, she gave a private concert… i dont know how that is somthing that would bring people to first, unless you publized it, and sold tickets…
Chuck Yeager… I <3 that guy, while peopel in my 4th grade clase were watching jordan slam dunk, i was Reading chuck yeargers auto biography
Will smith, again, if they showed him in a commercial supporting FIRST, then i think that we would bring in more people, but other than that showing somthing during nats, doesnt help much, but maybe what team need to do is somthing like what team 25 did, we sent letters to famous people, but i think that we will need to edit it to see if they will publicly support FIRST, and then direct them to FIRST so they can set somthing up, like i know when we won the nats in 2000, we went on Good Morning America, but there was a script problem, and the TV guy failed to mention FIRST but things like that is gonna bring FIRST support:)
*Originally posted by M. Krass *
**This week’s question is being brought to you by the letters J, O, H and N and the number 229.
**
Cute.
Personally, I think having a celebrity spokesman would give our delightful “little” program a lot of positive publicity. Well… any publicity is good publicity at this point. However, I honestly have no idea what celebrity we’d want…
Some famous action star?
Some beautiful model? (many of us can see the perks in that)
A teen heartthrob?
Rock-Star?
I just can’t think of anyone I can see portraying us in the correct manner.
What do you guys think?
Would you like to see the REAL Britney Spears hanging out in the Beatty pit? Okay, so maybe that’s a loaded question… but you get the idea.
Personally, I think having a celebrity spokesman would give our delightful “little” program a lot of positive publicity. Well… any publicity is good publicity at this point. However, I honestly have no idea what celebrity we’d want…
Some famous action star?
Some beautiful model? (many of us can see the perks in that)
A teen heartthrob?
Rock-Star?
I just can’t think of anyone I can see portraying us in the correct manner.
What do you guys think?
Would you like to see the REAL Britney Spears hanging out in the Beatty pit? Okay, so maybe that’s a loaded question… but you get the idea. **
Seeing as I spend a lot of time in our pits, I can say that I like the Britney Speaks idea, lol.
*Originally posted by JVN *
**As if you guys don’t get enough people visiting your pit as it is! **
Maybe next year if Brittany’s there, we can get a red rope and charge a dollar to enter our pits, lol. That will raise us enough money to pay for the next 4 seasons. lol.
*Originally posted by E. The Kidd *
**umm for the past 2 or 3 years there have been ~200+ rookie teams each year… **
Oh, I have recieved some false info then. If that is the case, why not 300+ next year. I hope to see 5 or 6 new regionals next year. The more people involved, the better the future of this country and this world will be.
*Originally posted by “Big Mike” *
**
FIRST, then i think that we would bring in more people, but other than that showing somthing during nats, doesnt help much, but maybe what team need to do is somthing like what team 25 did, we sent letters to famous peopleCOLOR]
Mike is talking about a project we did in 2001. Somewhere we found a book of hundreds of celebrity contacts and we made a mass mailing to just about every celebrity involved with sci fi movies, CEOs of all the major companies and people who just came across as cool choices. We mailed out over 200 letters, many personally addressed to the celebrity, explaining what FIRST was and why the celebrity might want to be a part of it.
Of the pile of letters we got over a hundred “returned to sender” because the addresses had changed or the mail was refused. We did get three interesting ones:
Donald Trump sent us a nice autographed photo and letter telling us to keep up the good work
Playboy Enterprises told us that they didn’t support groups involving minors as it was inappropriate. It was a shot…
Majel Barrett Roddenberry’s former agent (Star Trek fame) wrote us a hand written response encouraging our team to keep trying.
Would any of these letters have interested some big name celebrity in FIRST? Who knows? But we gave it a shot, got the FIRST name out there and maybe planted a few seeds.
Hmmmmm, I’m trying to think of some people who used to be geeky or are geeky and are now famous. I know tis sounds weird, but Shaq loves gadgets, and imagine him a little taller on a Segway or Ibot, lol. Jim Carry? Guy is hilarious, and I’m sure could come up with some material on robots. Bill Gates? Only the most famous guy in the worrld. Stan Lee? Cool creative guy. As for music artists, Linkin Park, ( idunno if they’re interested or not, just my fave band), HOW ABOUT OZZY!!! those robots would freak him out, omg, YESSS!!! OK, I’m not coming up with any serious ones. . .
*Originally posted by SkitzoSmurf *
**Hmmmmm, I’m trying to think of some people who used to be geeky or are geeky and are now famous. Bill Gates? Only the most famous guy in the worrld. . . **
but things like that is gonna bring FIRST support:)