Mr Altruistic

Well, it seems the old adage that any publicity is good publicity seems to ring true, at least in Francesca Willis aka The Tahitian Tempress case. For those that don’t know our Francesca, she’s an Aussie Schoolgirl that posed in some saucy shots (like the one above) in her Barker College school uniform, then posted her photos on the net in July, 2004. Once you’ve seen the full array of shots its not hard to understand why the pictures were making appearances on blogs and websites worldwide.

Barker College is arguably one of Sydney’s more selective co-educational (thats male and female) private schools, and so something like this couldn’t go without some sort of punishment… and so they suspended her. I reckon the number of males signing up to Barker probably increased ten-fold on the back of the Tahitian Temptress daring shots. It’s publicity like this that takes the stuffiness out of the starched shirt that is Barker College, and suddenly makes it a cool school to attend.

Last week Francesca Willis popped up again in The Australian newspaper, posing with Maserati Australia boss Herb Appleroth (see below). Appleroth said he has no problems using teenagers as promotional models. “She’s an attractive girl - she has to make a living”. Looks like her decision to post the photos on the net has gained a modelling break for herself that she might not otherwise have had. Her agent, Adpro boss Grant Dwyer, said rather tongue-in-cheek “she has been slapped on the wrist by the nuns and promises to be a good girl”. I think we all know she won’t and I look forward to the next batch of sensationalism from young Francesca Willis.

Back to the coolness factor and how valuable it is to a school. Cast your mind back a decade or so to that infamous incident by two young lads (Porter and Saddler) in the Knox Grammar School Chapel involving an Apple Pie and some interesting interpretations on how to eat it. It’s still widely discussed today, and at the time it sent one hit wonder Peter Blakely’s Crying in the Chapel to number 1 in the Australian Music Charts for the rest of the year. Why were the American Pie films so successful, and where did that imagery come from do you think? I can take one pretty good guess hehehe. That one incident alone killed the Knox coolness factor for decades to come. I know people that went to that school over 12 years ago now that are still embarrassed to mention they went there, to the point of leaving it off their resume. If you’re a young man growing up in Australian society today… Which school are you going to choose when you finish primary? The one that has you called a fag whenever you get on the train; when you are on the footy field versus other schools; when you tip your bowter?; when you are strutting around with your bagpipe and kilt? OR are you going to choose the one that lets you go to parties where if you are lucky enough you might wind up with a girl like Francesca Willis? (who incidentally looks a lot like Shannon Elizabeth from American Pie). Seems like a no-brainer for me. Barker should be thanking the Tahitian Temptress for the publicity, and I bet behind closed doors, that they certainly are

For the benefit of those that haven’t seen the pics of Francesca Willis, I have included them below. enjoy
Francesca Willis posing with Maserati boss
Francesca Willis posing in uniform #1
Francesca Willis posing in uniform #2
Francesca Willis at party #1
Francesca Willis at party #2
Francesca Willis at party #3
Francesca Willis at party #4
Francesca Willis at party #5
Francesca Willis at party #6
Francesca Willis at party #7