The Greek Bailout Crowdfunding Campaign That Crashed Indiegogo
So far, some 61,000 people have pledged an impressive 1 million euros to the campaign.
Since it launched three days ago, one Briton’s campaign to crowdfund a Greek debt bailout has been getting a lot of attention -- so much that it crashed crowdfunding website Indiegogo for a few hours on Tuesday.
Since it launched three days ago, one Briton’s campaign to crowdfund a Greek debt bailout has been getting a lot of attention — so much that it crashed crowdfunding website Indiegogo for a few hours on Tuesday.
The campaign set up by London resident Thom Feeney, 29, promises people who chip in a range of thank yous: a postcard of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for a 3 euro contribution, a Greek feta and olive salad for 6, a bottle of ouzo for 10. Contributors have to pay for shipping themselves.
So far, some 61,000 people have pledged an impressive 1 million euros to the campaign. But that’s more than a thousand times shy of Feeney’s target: the 1.6 billion that Greece owes the IMF. Assuming the campaign can’t raise 1.599 billion in its remaining six days, that means the real costs of pledging are literally zero. Feeney is using Indiegogo’s “fixed funding” model, which gives contributors their money back if the campaign doesn’t meet its target. (That means Feeney most likely won’t have to mail all those Greek salads, either.)
Still, Feeney says the campaign is important for symbolic reasons. “This crowdfunding is a reaction to the bullying of the Greek people by European politicians,” he wrote in the Guardian on Wednesday, “but it could easily be about British politicians bullying the people of the north of England, Scotland and Wales. I want the people of Europe to realise that there is another option to austerity, despite what David Cameron and Angela Merkel tell you.”
Image credit: screenshot of Indiegogo webpage
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