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Girl next door lands on the Internet
The face of successful Georgia-based company gets paid only in T-shirts
 Matt Flynn / AP Auburn University student Alice Fraasa as she appears in ads for Georgia-based Snorg Tees, an online T-shirt company. The company says about 500,000 people a month click on ads featuring Fraasa, helping make her a recognizable, but mostly anonymous, face on the Web. |
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AUBURN, Ala. - Chances are you'll recognize Alice Fraasa, but you won't be able to figure out from where.
Fraasa, a 19-year-old sophomore at Auburn University, is the face of Snorg Tees, a successful Georgia-based company that sells T-shirts online imprinted with funny, occasionally rude, comments.
Photos of a wide-eyed, laughing Fraasa lure thousands of people daily to Snorg Tees' Internet store, most of them from social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace or other youth-oriented domains where the banner ads are featured.
One click on Alice and potential customers are browsing T-shirts imprinted with phrases like "I'm kind of a big deal" and "Your mom goes to college."
After nearly four years as an anonymous face on the Web, Fraasa is used to getting cockeyed glances of half recognition, the odd looks of people who vaguely recognize her.
"It always happens," said Fraasa. "I'm a familiar face."
The brothers who launched the company 3 1/2 years ago credit much of its success to Fraasa, who's paid only in free T-shirts.
"There is something about her that draws people in," said Matt Flynn, co-founder with his brother Bryan. They knew Fraasa through her brother.
A few weirdos have tried to contact her, Fraasa said, but mostly she's been flattered by the attention. Fan groups have even sprung up. She has no training as a model. A tomboy who played sports growing up and loves Harry Potter books, Fraasa is a communications major.
"It just seems like I'm the girl next door, like I'd be easy to date, like I'm attainable," she said, flashing the huge grin from the ads.
Flynn isn't sure what's behind Fraasa's clickability, either. But she's got free T-shirts for life if she'll just keep posing.
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