The Naked Cowboy

A well-known fixture in Times Square, we found him surrounded by a gaggle of middle-aged women all oooh-ing and aaaah-ing as he performed his Austin Power-ish moves in the rain. Yes, it was raining and bitterly cold but the cowboy still pranced and posed in his underwear and cowboy boots.

Crazy as you may think he is, N.Y.’s cowboy is a master of branding. The Naked Cowboy brand is both trademarked and franchised and in 2010 (allegedly — I couldn’t find a source), the New York tourism bureau announced that “the Naked Cowboy is the third leading tourist attraction in New York City, after the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.”

This recognition came from years of relentless self-publication to the point where he would arrive in a city and “call both the police and the press so he could land on TV and in the papers while getting arrested for performing in his undies.

In 2012, the Naked Cowboy ran for president of the United States but dropped out early.

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