--- title: Men in China Can Donate Sperm to Afford iPhone 6S, Ads Claim description: New advertisements from sperm banks in China are claiming that men can afford the latest iPhone by donating sperm canonical: https://time.com/4041411/iphone-6s-sperm-bank/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-19T15:46:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:24:56.743Z og:title: Chinese Sperm Bank Ads Urge Men to Donate Sperm to Afford iPhone 6S og:description: “No need to sell a kidney" og:url: https://time.com/4041411/iphone-6s-sperm-bank/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72b47732b31d0378/698864530a4a22073a9c6253/42-76135082.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: iPhone 6 Plus recall prompted by defective camera og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chinese Sperm Bank Ads Urge Men to Donate Sperm to Afford iPhone 6S twitter:description: “No need to sell a kidney" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72b47732b31d0378/698864530a4a22073a9c6253/42-76135082.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chinese Sperm Bank Ads Urge Men to Donate Sperm to Afford iPhone 6S  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 19, 2015 3:46 PM UTC  Pedestrians walk past an Apple store in Shanghai, on Aug. 25, 2015. Pedestrians walk past an Apple store in Shanghai, on Aug. 25, 2015.Imaginechina/Corbis  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 19, 2015 3:46 PM UTC New advertisements from sperm banks in China are claiming that men can afford the latest iPhone [by donating sperm.](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/19/chinese-men-urged-to-donate-sperm-to-earn-money-for-the-new-iphone6s) “No need to sell a kidney…Shanghai sperm bank can make your iPhone 6S dream come true,” reads one ad from the Shanghai Sperm Bank. According to _The Guardian_, the bank is offering 6,000 yuan ($942) for 17 milliliters of semen from qualified college graduates who are taller than 5’5 and free of disease. The kidney reference in the ad hearkens back to 2011, when a [17-year-old boy gave his kidney in exchange for an iPad and iPhone](http://techland.time.com/2012/04/06/five-charged-in-china-after-teens-sells-kidney-for-iphone/). This week, in advance of the Sept. 25 release of the latest iPhone 6S from Apple, two men [reportedly tried the same tactic](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/trending/2015-09/15/content%5F21854235.htm). The sperm bank ads have sparked both interest and controversy on social media, but apparently, they’re working. In a poll of social media users on China’s version of Twitter, Sina Weibo, about 20% disapproved of the ads, while 27% said they’d donate immediately, _The Guardian_ reported. \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/19/chinese-men-urged-to-donate-sperm-to-earn-money-for-the-new-iphone6s)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4041411/iphone-6s-sperm-bank/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4041411/iphone-6s-sperm-bank/"},"headline":"Chinese Sperm Bank Ads Urge Men to Donate Sperm to Afford iPhone 6S","datePublished":"2015-09-19T15:46:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:24:56.743Z","description":"“No need to sell a kidney...Shanghai sperm bank can make your iPhone 6S dream come true\"","url":"https://time.com/4041411/iphone-6s-sperm-bank/","keywords":["Newsfeed","China"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72b47732b31d0378/698864530a4a22073a9c6253/42-76135082.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mandy Oaklander","jobTitle":"Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72b47732b31d0378/698864530a4a22073a9c6253/42-76135082.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"iPhone 6 Plus recall prompted by defective camera","caption":"iPhone 6 Plus recall prompted by defective camera","creditText":"Imaginechina/Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4041411/iphone-6s-sperm-bank/","name":"Chinese Sperm Bank Ads Urge Men to Donate Sperm to Afford iPhone 6S"}}]}] ```