Donate sperm, get an iPhone 6S, Chinese marketers boast

Faced with a shortage of sperm donors, Chinese sperm banks have a new marketing ploy: They're advertising iPhones in exchange for donations.

Well, sort of. The going rate for donations seems to hover between 5,000 yuan (US$785.68) and 6,000 yuan (US$942.82), which is enough to cover the US$649 needed for a 16GB iPhone 6Swhen it comes out.

Several sperm banks are distributing flyers and taking out newspaper ads with iPhones prominently displayed on top, in the hopes of catching more eyes with their plea.

For example, the Renji Hospital in Shanghai started distributing a digital flyer (link in Chinese) on chat app WeChat, offering 6,000 yuan (US$942.82) for a 40 millilitres donation, as well as a free medical check. It even states that men can donate over several sessions within a six-month stretch, since a regular "session" will produce somewhere between 2 millilitres and 6 millilitres of a sample.

Renji Hospital's sperm donation room.

IMAGE: WECHAT/WEIXIN

The donation room has a bright blue sofa chair.

IMAGE: WECHAT/WEIXIN

A Jiangsu sperm bank is offering 5,000 yuan (US$785.68) for donations, a newspaper ad states. It raised this amount from 3,500 yuan (US$549.99), according to a group of bloggers.

Sperm donors wanted, newspaper ad states.

IMAGE: WEIBO

A Hubei province sperm bank is even more brazen in its marketing tagline. It says "you don't have to sell a kidney" to buy an iPhone 6S anymore.

"Selling a kidney" is in reference to reports of people donating their organs for iPhones and iPads in the past. In 2011, a 17-year-old boy from the Hunan province donated one of his kidneys for the Apple devices. Selling a kidney, or maishen, has become a catchphrase for the lengths that people will go for iPhones in the country.

Some porn sites are catching onto the meme as well. An account calling itself the "Zhengzhou sperm bank" has been posting on Weibo with the news and its porn site address.

IMAGE: WEIBO

China has strict rules governing sperm banks. There are 18 authorised in the country, and inspection on samples can take up to 10 months before each can be cleared for use.

The going rate for samples at the country's latest bank in Guangxi was between 3,000 yuan (US$471.42) and 4,000 yuan (US$628.57) according to a 2014 report.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.