Transgenic cactus grows human hair
A South African artist has displayed a transgenic cactus with human genes that allow it to grow human hair, according to a press release from biotech firm Nextgencode.
The artist reports that bald men seem to be particularly interested in the cactus.
The “company,” in case you hadn’t realized, is fake. It’s a creation of the publishers of Micheal Crichton’s next book, a fictional work about genetic research.
An article about the marketing stunt appeared on the front page of the Marketplace section of today’s WSJ.
It’s certainly an interesting idea. But will it be effective? “Marketers have to tread carefully in the land of artifice,” Mark Kingdon, chief executive of an Omnicom Group division that specializes in digital marketing, told the WSJ.
Indeed.
Update: Illustration provided by my brother. Do you recognize the hair?
