The Swiss branch of Amnesty International took credit Wednesday for a short-lived viral campaign on eBay that used mock auction entries to underscore the issue of human trafficking.

More than 200 entries — based on trademarks that could be someone’s first name — cropped up on eBay on Monday evening. One that began “Mercedes, 1986, excellent condition” showed not a car, but a young woman available for auction.

The US-based online auction service promptly yanked the entries off its website, spokeswoman Sabine Schneider told the Swiss news agency ATS, confirming news that first appeared in the Swiss newspaper Le Matin Bleu.

“eBay has some sympathy for this operation, but it does not wish to be used as some kind of platform,” she said.

“Given that our action was to last three days, we had imagined that eBay would close its eyes,” said Manon Shick, spokeswoman for Amnesty International in Switzerland.

Despite the incident, Schneider said eBay had contacted Amnesty International to propose a collaboration on human rights, in a form that has yet to be worked out.

Posted: 06|26|08 at 8:39 am. Filed under: Auction News.