Rent-a-white-guy: Markets in everything

It's not too surprising that car companies and others with flashy products to sell hire beautiful fair-skinned women to pose with their products. Appealing to prejudice sells. There's no attempt to fool anyone into thinking the models know anything about the products.

Not so when it comes to hiring white guys to pretend to be business men. CNN reports:

For a day, a weekend, a week, up to even a month or two, Chinese companies are willing to pay high prices for fair-faced foreigners to join them as fake employees or business partners.

Some call it "White Guy Window Dressing." To others, it's known as the "White Guy in a Tie" events, "The Token White Guy Gig," or, simply, a "Face Job."

And it is, essentially, all about the age-old Chinese concept of face. To have a few foreigners hanging around means a company has prestige, money and the increasingly crucial connections -- real or not -- to businesses abroad.