Rent a German
…and smile!
In a situation with not much cash in pocket, I asked myself: „What can you do to earn money?“
It was during a time with quite high unemployment in Germany (2005).
First things first: I am human, secondly I live in Germany and am German.
What is being German and can everybody be German? Can I rent myself and other Germans?
Is it in any way relevant to be German or being from any country? Or does the individual count – no matter where from?
Would people rent Germans? For what? What do people who rent Germans expect?
Media coverage:
Spiegel online (title story), Reuters TV report (which was transferred to satelitte; as consequence TV stations worldwide reported on the project, Al Jazeera, etc..)
rentagerman.de had+1 Mio. unique visits per week after Spiegel online cover story and Reuters published story on global satellite network…
Screenshots of Website
– 3 days to setup website w. photos of Germans etc…
Press coverage from Spiegel online title story…
…to Reuters TV coverage. They uploaded it on a satellite. From that moment the website had more than 1 Mio. unique visitors in 1 week…
I had to setup a rentagerman headquarter office in a gallery space of a friend („Hobbyshop“) in Munich (look at the old flowers to make it more authentic ;).
Nobody ever asks if this project could be fake. And it was not after I got rented as first German worldwide by a british newspaper…
Media coverage:
ONLINE:
spiegel.de: title page, focus online, stern.de, deutsche welle, 1+1 internet magazine, various blogs&newsletters.
TV:
ARD (Brisant), RTL Germany, Portugal, Spain (News), SAT1 (News), PRO7 (News, Taff),NTW/Moscow (News), REUTERS (international distribution via satellite), France Press, Al Jazeera, RTVE, BTV…
PRINT:
La Stampa/title page, THE TIMES (UK+Ireland), FAZ, Focus, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Mail on Sunday, Sueddeutsche, Daily Telegraph, WOMAN, The Guardian, Kölner stadtanzeiger, Helsingin Sanomat, South china morning post/hongkong, The Independent, il secolo XIX, Göteborgs Posten, Berliner Zeitung, Berliner Kurier, Financial Times, La Vanguardia, Metropolitan Barcelona,
El Periodico, France Press (Agentur), Reuters Espana…
RADIO:
BBC world/worldnews/outlook. (50 mio. listeners), BBC worldservice „world update”, 3 BBC morningshows for the London region, radio 7, swr, radio ffh, radio nrw, radio 106,4, RTE radio/Ireland, radio gong, Radio Energy (Munich, Berlin), Radio Gong, Antenne Thüringen, Radio Bergen (SE), Deutsche Welle,
COM Radio, Radio Sabadell, Cadena Ser, Catalunya Radio, RAC1…
