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Richard Rawlings


This is Richard Rawlings.

Spank My Monkey
To make your own parody comics of the Spank My Monkey photograph, check out The SpankMaker.


Richard Rawlings is the owner of Gas Monkey Garage, a fairly well-known hot rod shop. Gas Monkey Garage frequents popular hot rod events,[1] and also had scheduled appearances on hot rod-themed television shows,2 such as Overhaulin' on The Learning Channel.

In addition, Rawlings is a spokesman and self-styled "impresario" for The Bullrun,[3] a heavily-sponsored "luxury lifestyle" car rally. (For more information on the Bullrun, see: The Bullrun.)

Richard Rawlings and The Bullrun



The Spank My Monkey/Anti-Christ Promotion
On August 20, 2006, Gas Monkey Garage launched an Internet marketing promotion for their upcoming car giveaway. They were giving away a car at the SEMA Show, a large automotive show run by SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association. The car to be given away at the SEMA Show was a 1931 Ford "Rat Rod".[5] This was most likely an attempt to market to the youth-oriented "rat rod" culture, as SEMA recently identified "rat rods" as an "emerging youth culture trend" that automotive marketers should "take advantage of".[6] (For more information, see: SEMA.)

As part of the marketing campaign, hot rod forums were spammed with a promotional photograph and video for the SEMA car giveaway.[5] The photo featured Rawlings and his shop manager wearing women's thong underwear imprinted with the Gas Monkey Garage slogan "Spank My Monkey", a slang phrase for: "Masturbate Me".[7][8] (For more information, see: Spank My Monkey photograph.)

The video included shots of drinking and driving, urinating in the street, and a scene in which Richard Rawlings declared that he was "The Anti-Christ of the Hot Rod World". (For more information, see: Anti-Christ of the Hot Rod World video.)

Hot Rod Anti-Christ
To make parody comics of the Anti-Christ of the Hot Rod World video, check out The SpankMaker.


One of the forums that was spammed was the Hotrodders Bulletin Board, a large forum for hot rod enthusiasts located on Hotrodders.com. The members of the Hotrodders Bulletin Board immediately rejected the promotion, and appealed to SEMA and the television networks.


Veiled Threats
To handle the situation, Corky Coker, the outgoing SEMA Chairman of the Board, was dispatched to the Hotrodders Bulletin Board. Coker registered a username on the forums, and posted publicly in defense of the Spank My Monkey marketing campaign.[9]

When Coker failed to convince the forum members of the innocence of the marketing campaign, a "mystery" user registered on the forums. The "mystery" user claimed to live in the same area as the forum administrator, told him to "watch what you say" because it would "come back to bite you", and made veiled threats to the administrator's safety.[10] After examining the website logs, it was determined that the "mystery" user had the same IP address as Corky Coker, and had been posting from the exact same location as Corky Coker.[11] Faced with the evidence, Coker was forced to publicly admit the deception. Although he contended that he had not personally made the threatening post, he did admit that it had been done by Coker Tire.[12] (For more information, see: Corky Coker.) 		Veiled Threats
To make parody comics of SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association, check out The SpankMaker.



Dropped by SEMA, and Pulled from the Air
Before the failed marketing campaign, Richard Rawlings had the backing of many facets of the industry. He had large companies as sponsors, he was a spokesman for The Bullrun rally, he was scheduled to do a car giveaway at SEMA, and he was being featured on popular hotrodding shows on television.

After the marketing campaign was exposed on Hotrodders.com, the industry dropped Rawlings, SEMA cancelled the car giveaway, and The Learning Channel pulled Rawlings's episodes of Overhaulin' from the air. (For more information, see: The Learning Channel.)


Related Information on SpankMyMarketer.com



References
  1. Gas Monkey Garage Events. GasMonkeyGarage.com. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://gasmonkeygarage.com/monkey_content.html.

  2. Gas Monkey Garage. GasMonkeyGarage.com. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://gasmonkeygarage.com/monkey_content.html.

  3. Richard Rawlings, Bullrun Impresario. Veoh Video Network. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://www.veoh.com/videoDetails.html?v=e98158pJ4bCEnes.

  4. Rawlings, Richard. About Me. GasMonkeyBlog.com. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://gasmonkeyblog.com/about.html.

  5. Andrews, Stephen (Aug. 20, 2006). Gas Monkey Garage is giving away a Hot Rod -- need your help. Hotrodders Bulletin Board. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/gas-monkey-garage-giving-away-hot-rod-need-your-help-96191.html#post679393.

  6. SEMA News Bureau (Sep. 19, 2006). Rebels with Causes. Press release. Retrieved Dec 17, 2006 from http://www.semashow.com/main/main.aspx?id=70173.

  7. Spank the monkey. Wiktionary. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spank_the_monkey.

  8. Spanking the monkey. UrbanDictionary.com. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spanking+the+monkey.

  9. Coker, Corky (Aug. 26, 2006). Gas Monkey Garage is giving away a Hot Rod -- need your help. Hotrodders Bulletin Board. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/gas-monkey-garage-giving-away-hot-rod-need-your-help-96191-11.html#post682189.

  10. Coker Tire (Aug. 28, 2006). Gas Monkey Garage is giving away a Hot Rod -- need your help. Hotrodders Bulletin Board. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/gas-monkey-garage-giving-away-hot-rod-need-your-help-96191-12.html#post682919.

  11. Hotrodders.com (Aug. 298, 2006). Gas Monkey Garage is giving away a Hot Rod -- need your help. Hotrodders Bulletin Board. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/gas-monkey-garage-giving-away-hot-rod-need-your-help-96191-12.html#post682929.

  12. Coker, Corky (Aug. 29, 2006). Gas Monkey Garage is giving away a Hot Rod -- need your help. Hotrodders Bulletin Board. Retrieved Dec. 17, 2006 from http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/gas-monkey-garage-giving-away-hot-rod-need-your-help-96191-15.html#post683874.




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