$$ SPUD MONEY $$

In 1951, Marilyn Monroe attended a party wearing a low-cut red dress. The following morning, a columnist criticized her as “cheap and vulgar,” claiming she would have looked more respectable in a potato sack. This was Marilyn Monroe’s response.. Marilyn Monroe turned the columnist’s insult into a brilliant publicity stunt by literally posing in a potato sack for a professional photoshoot. Rather than apologize or retreat from the “cheap and vulgar” criticism, Monroe and her team at Twentieth Century Fox embraced the comment and turned it to their advantage. A genuine burlap potato sack was reportedly shipped from Idaho, altered with armholes and a rope belt, and used for a series of photographs taken by photographer Joseph Kornman. The resulting images were distributed widely by newspapers, transforming the insult into a celebration of Monroe’s beauty and sense of humor. The stunt reinforced the idea that her appeal didn’t depend on glamorous Hollywood gowns, while turning her critics’ words against them. The publicity was so effective that an Idaho potato farmer reportedly sent Monroe a large shipment of potatoes as a thank-you for the unexpected advertising.