Anyone Can Be a Model

For those times when sex isn't used to market a product or service: Many model agencies in town have "real people'' components, but the field seems to be heating up. "The public has become more and more skeptical of what's being sold to us, so the more believable, the more like us, the people in the ads are, the more convincing the advertisements are,'' says William Delzell, owner of Blue Sky People, a San Francisco online real people casting service. The Web site, www.blueskypeople.com, was introduced two months ago. These companies look for people whose images can be used to sell a myriad of popular products, many of which are far removed from the world of high fashion and the upscale market, which typically uses professional fashion models or celebrities. She may not be the face of Lancome, but Jennifer Frisch is one of the faces on the Nancy's Petite Quiche boxes in the frozen food section of your supermarket. All she had to do was grin madly for a day and take home $800. Maybe you could too, if you strike the right balance between sexy and approachable, as she does. Or maybe you're a middle-aged guy with a comb-over and a couple of chins, like Jay Baumgard, a menswear sales associate at Macy's. In his other life, he's the poster boy for the Blackwell Files (www.blackwellfiles.com), the largest San Francisco casting agency specializing in finding everyday people to be featured in advertising and promotional campaigns for all kinds of products. Like many of the "models'' at Blackwell, Baumgard was scouted on the street one day by a staffer with a digital camera. "You'd be good for a Compaq shoot,'' she told him, and took a few photos. "I looked at her like she was crazy,'' he said. But he signed a release form and gave her his number... His comb-over is real. He's 48. He's not fit or trim. "Advertisers think most Baby Boomers look like me, I guess," he said. "I'm just the average Joe on the street.'' Technology companies love him; he's appeared in ads for Yahoo, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Veritas and Best Software, as well as a goofy American Cancer Society ad for prostate cancer exams, where he wore a nurse's uniform half undone. What a revolutionary concept! Using average people doing regular things (or not) to sell a product! Who would have ever thought that sexless marketing would ever work? Could this be strike 2 for the girls on Tyra's Top Model show?