A Perth marketing company has made a $2,500 bid for the right to name an unborn child messagesonhold.com.au.<br /><br />In an advertisement on website eBay Australia, an unnamed Perth couple invited people to bid for the right to name the baby girl, due on March 1, and use her for promotional events.<br /><br />The auction is believed to have attracted no bids during the seven-day sale period and the ad, titled Truman Baby, was subsequently withdrawn.<br /><br />However, Perth businessman Kym Illman on Thursday offered to pay the baby's parents $2,500 if they would let him name the child after his company, messagesonhold.com.au.<br /><br />"I'm the first one in ... $2,500 to start the ball rolling, which is nothing like the three-quarters of a million to a million they were expecting," Mr Illman said of the bidding.<br /><br />"I think it is an amazing promotional opportunity.<br /><br />"It is bizarre, and the mother is either very clever or very silly, but even if she does go ahead with it, we would only want it for 12 months."<br /><br />Advertisement<br />AdvertisementThe eBay ad, which set a minimum bid of almost $1 million, said the winner would give the child a mutually agreed name which would be used for five years and would appear on the girl's birth certificate.<br /><br />"This is a unique and historical opportunity to promote your business, company or brand for a period of 5 years," the ad said.<br /><br />It also stated the 38-year-old mother would accompany the baby on all performances as a condition of the deal.<br /><br />"I don't see there being any downside for the child," Mr Illman said.<br /><br />"At the very least it might have a few dollars towards its education in years to come."<br /><br />Mr Illman said he wished he had thought of the concept before he had his own two sons.<br /><br />"We wouldn't be putting any pressure on mum or the child. We just simply want the PR (public relations) value that goes along with this sort of thing," he said.<br /><br />Brad Cox, who is acting as an agent for the baby's mother, said there were no other bids.<br /><br />"Obviously the parent, being heavily pregnant, she's sort of done one interview and she is not prepared to do anything else," he said.<br /><br />Mr Cox said the mother had not been paid for her interview with a television current affairs program.
