Because What This World Really Needs Is More Advertising

. Brinke Guthrie was looking at Australian Open photos yesterday when he came upon this shot of Casey Dellacqua. “Hmmm,” he thought, “Instant Sponsor? What the hell is that?” Instant Sponsor, it turns out, is pretty much what it sounds like: a company that lets advertisers bid for space on athletes’ attire for very short time periods. In other words, the Instant Sponsor logo patch is like a “Your Ad Here” sign. Obviously, this is for athletes who don’t already have sponsorship deals, so this is primarily a vehicle for bottom-feeders. So just what does it cost to place an ad on Casey Dellacqua’s breast (or wherever), and just who tends to bid for that privilege? Well, an anonymous bidder apparently spent $1500 to buy a sleeve patch on James Duckworth’s shirt for the first two rounds of the Aussie Open, but this photo of Duckworth’s second round match shows him wearing the Instant Sponsor logo, not an actual sponsors...