In 2013, Chiquinho Scarpa, a wealthy businessman from Brazil, made a startling announcement on his Facebook page: he planned to bury his Bentley Continental Flying Spur underground. The reasoning he gave was that he wanted to be able to drive the car, worth $400,000, in the afterlife. He shared photos of his progress as he dug the hole in his backyard, which sent social media into a frenzy. People wondered how he could bury something so valuable when it could be sold or donated to charity. They called him crazy and selfish.
The outrage turned to intrigue when Scarpa revealed that the entire announcement was a publicity stunt. The cause? Organ donation. It was National Organ Donation Week in Brazil. He shared a new photo on his Facebook page several days after the initial post, with a banner behind him reading, “It’s absurd to bury something much more valuable than a Bentley: your organs.” Scarpa shared that he had not, in fact, buried his car, but that the post was intended to get people talking and show how valuable different things can be to different people.