Rent-A-Protestor
Written by Alyx on January 21st, 2007 in culture.
A German Web site has come up a novel niche market — renting out demonstrators for public protests. Good-looking protestors can help an organization get its political message to the public for as little as €145 a day.

Berlin-based Erento, a company that pairs renters with potential customers, offers an unusual lineup of products and services for loan. In addition to such rentals as snow machines, horse-drawn carriages for weddings, chicken-plucking machines and private jets, the site also now offers a unique service: protestors for hire.
Judging by their profiles, most of the 300-plus people currently listed in the “rent a demonstrator” category are young and attractive. Potential agitators looking for support for their public protests can choose, for example, Steffen, age 22, 190 cm tall (6 feet 2 inches), “athletic” and with a shoe size of 45. He’s available for gigs all over Germany, but says he prefers the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Or Manuela, who has green eyes and “very long” hair and is available within a 100-kilometer range of Berlin. Included in the extensive personal information — which at times seems more suited to a dating site — are skin color and “appearance type,” which can be for example “European,” “African,” “South American” or “Asian.”

