Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
December 13, 2006
Pg. 27
By Brenda Goodman
In a year that has been tough on military families, at least one marine’s mother got some relief from her worries yesterday.
The Marine Corps quashed her son’s plan to change his name at the behest of the highest bidder on his Web site, ChooseMyName.com.
“My mom, not being very business minded, didn’t really see the value in changing my name,” said Sgt. Cody C. Baker, 29, a logistics specialist based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. “She said she would be praying for me.”
Had someone from the Marines not advised Sergeant Baker that a federal law prohibits military personnel from making commercial endorsements, he said he might have been called Oprah Winfrey, King Taco or even Mister Right.
“The Marine Corps is another world,” Sergeant Baker said. “It’s very strait-laced.”
Before he called the auction off, the online company FreebeeStore.com had offered $30,000.01 to Sergeant Baker to change his name to FreebeeStore.com.
The second-highest bid, $26,333.31, from an online coffee company, would have renamed him Sgt. Finest Freshest Fastest.
Sergeant Baker said he was hoping to raise money to buy a house, start his own business and pay for the college classes he hoped to take when he discharged in a year. He also pledged some of the money to help an orphanage in Thailand.
“From start to finish it was about 15 minutes in my head, and then I kind of started up the Web site,” Sergeant Baker said. “I’m always kind of thinking of story ideas, movie ideas; it just kind of came forth out of my entrepreneurial spirit.”
December 13, 2006
Pg. 27
By Brenda Goodman
In a year that has been tough on military families, at least one marine’s mother got some relief from her worries yesterday.
The Marine Corps quashed her son’s plan to change his name at the behest of the highest bidder on his Web site, ChooseMyName.com.
“My mom, not being very business minded, didn’t really see the value in changing my name,” said Sgt. Cody C. Baker, 29, a logistics specialist based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. “She said she would be praying for me.”
Had someone from the Marines not advised Sergeant Baker that a federal law prohibits military personnel from making commercial endorsements, he said he might have been called Oprah Winfrey, King Taco or even Mister Right.
“The Marine Corps is another world,” Sergeant Baker said. “It’s very strait-laced.”
Before he called the auction off, the online company FreebeeStore.com had offered $30,000.01 to Sergeant Baker to change his name to FreebeeStore.com.
The second-highest bid, $26,333.31, from an online coffee company, would have renamed him Sgt. Finest Freshest Fastest.
Sergeant Baker said he was hoping to raise money to buy a house, start his own business and pay for the college classes he hoped to take when he discharged in a year. He also pledged some of the money to help an orphanage in Thailand.
“From start to finish it was about 15 minutes in my head, and then I kind of started up the Web site,” Sergeant Baker said. “I’m always kind of thinking of story ideas, movie ideas; it just kind of came forth out of my entrepreneurial spirit.”