Shanghai Human Sperm Bank has released an ad on WeChat, telling potential donors the money they make from sperm donation could buy an iPhone 6S. (Photo : www.techpill.net)
Shanghai Human Sperm Bank released an ad communicating that the subsidy for donating sperm is equal to the price of an iPhone 6S.
The sperm bank released the ad on the WeChat social network to encourage men to apply as donors.
The price of the latest iPhone starts from 5,288 yuan ($830) in mainland China. Sperm donors typically receive as much as 6,000 yuan as subsidy, which covers the donor's nutrition and transportation costs, considering the entire process involves multiple trips in the span of six months.
More than 100,000 people have viewed the ad since Monday when it was released.
Before the ad, the bank would receive about 20 consultation calls a day. With the release of the ad, which allowed a selected few to register their personal details on the bank's website, the sperm bank has been making around 200 to 300 calls per day.
The sperm bank still has to see which of these applicants are eligible after checking their personal details, like family diseases, height and education.
"As they register online, calling them up is more feasible, so it is better than the old-fashioned way," Du Yanzhi, who works at the sperm bank, told English-language newspaper Shanghai Daily. Du added that sperm donation campaigns are usually difficult to promote as the general public does not want to discuss such topics.
The sperm bank said that it decided to resort to promoting sperm donation online when talks and seminars on college campuses attracted few participants. Most sperm donors are college students, so the sperm bank tried a new medium for its message.
"Actually we've also seen an increase in applications from white-collar workers, who consider sperm donation as important as blood donation. They consider it an honorable thing to become a qualified donor," said Chen Xiangfeng, one of the sperm bank's doctors.
About 10 to 15 percent of couples in China are infertile. A couple usually have to wait around a year after signing up to get a sperm donation, as finding a donor is difficult.
"Last year, we received only about 4,000 applicants. From them, only 25 percent were good enough," said Chen.
A total of 6,909 children have been born using the sperm bank since it was established in 2003.
