Kickstarter Project Raises $40,274 for Potato Salad

Zack Danger Brown, of Columbus, Ohio had a funny idea. He created a Kickstarter fund-raising page with the goal of making potato salad. His original goal was $10.00. To date the Potato Salad tycoon has raised $40,274 (yes it went up since the screenshot was taken two minutes ago) with 24 days left.

“Basically I’m just making potato salad,” Brown said in his prospectus. “I haven’t decided what kind yet.”

Kickstarter is the international Crowdfunding platform which is used by inventors, researchers and starving artists alike to get financing for their projects. Recent success stories range from LeVar Burton’s raising $5,408,916.00 to reboot his children show Reading Rainbow, to director Paul Schrader (who authored the screenplays for Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull) raising $159,015.00 to make a soft core porn/slasher film/with Lindsay Lohan.

Brown explained his thinking:

$10.00 seemed like and achievable goal and more than enough for the potato and mayonnaise and whatever else goes into potato salad. When he reached it within the first 5 minutes he posted these stretch goals on his page:

$35 – I will make 4x as much Potato Salad. I know $40 isn’t 4x $10, but you guys have earned it.

$75 – Pizza Party!

$100 – I will try two different Potato Salad recipes.

Then entered the internet. After he had raised $107.00 ($97.00 over his original goal) his story was picked up by CNET and donations came pouring in from snark lovers across the world.

The joke went viral and to date 3,707 have contributed to the cause and a whole sub industry of “I love Potato Salad” hats and T-Shirts has been created.

Such a success story has, of course, brought in a slew of imitators who are using Kickstarter to raise the funds for everything from burritos to chocolate dipped Oreos. None has had the same success as Brown. Neither have most of the starving artist and inventors Kickstarter was originally designed to help.

Silly internet, Crowdfunding is for celebrities, snark and irony, not your dumb opera or medical breakthrough medical device that can comfort cancer survivors or save lives. Get real!

By: Eric Trommater

A liberal living in Northern Virginia. Father of Two great kids. Former sports writer and movie critic.