Can I help with the salad? Here’s £26,000

11 July 2014 -

Zack "Danger" Brown raising of $44,000 to make a single potato salad shows how effective marketing sometimes conquers all

Will Edwards

With weeks to go until the project closes, one online fundraising venture looks likely to go down in history as one of the more ridiculous – yet successful – campaigns ever.

Kickstarter, a relatively small US based funding company, is essentially known for allowing ideas to get funding when they’ve either been turned down elsewhere, or don’t want to go down the more traditional routes of support. But, unsurprisingly, there are a few ideas on their website which are, to say the least, eccentric. Most of the less worthy ideas looking for funding don’t get very far, but Zack "Danger" Brown has managed to not only meet his tongue-in-cheek request for finance, but beat his original goal 4,370 times over.

He does make some effort in the description part of his page, but presumably when he began his best hope was to reach his aim of raising $10. However, as the donations kept coming in he added more and more information and even organised a Q&A on social network Reddit. He’s now attracted 5,370 backers, each pledging anything from $1 upwards, and the thought that the $43,700 he’s going to receive for making some potato salad will be mouth watering for plenty of people envious of gaining so much from such a frivolous idea.

His accomplishment could just illustrate people’s counterintuitive willingness to waste money. And the venture has attracted ire from the promoters of more worthy ideas on Kickstarter – such as funding university courses.

But, most likely, this bizarre episode just reflects the human species’ love of a daft and quirky idea. And that’s deserving of praise.

Will Edwards is managing director of media training consultancy Bluewood Training