Say what you will about "Dr. Schnoz" Michael Salzhauer, but the incessantly self-promoting plastic surgeon has perfect timing.
Just a day after Anesson Joseph fatally tried to eat another man's face in Palm Beach, Salzhauer has launched a "zombie awareness video campaign" offering free Botox and cheap plastic surgery for the Instagram follower with the best undead selfie.
Too soon? Um, probably, but that's never stopped Dr. Schnoz in the past.
See also: Michael Salzhauer, Miami's Wackiest Plastic Surgeon, Risks Everything for Internet Fame
This isn't Salzhauer's first spin around the controversial block. In fact, Dr. Schnoz seems to love cruising through controversy like a rapper with a million-dollar grill and a pimped out lowrider.
As we wrote in a 2012 feature on the doctor, Salzhauer is a successful plastic surgeon with a strange habit of concocting offensive marketing strategies.
He once commissioned a music video called "Jewcan Sam, a Nose Job Love Song," for instance, in which a Jewish teenager trying to impress a girl by getting nasal surgery.
The video went viral, but so did the outrage. The Anti Defamation League accused him of exploiting Jewish stereotypes and The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) launched an investigation.
From our feature:
For many, the video made Salzhauer into a pantomimic villain: the flashy, heartless, obscenely wealthy Miami plastic surgeon. Salzhauer hardly tried to counter the image. Instead of backing off, he's doubled down with increasingly outrageous videos, openly pushing for ever younger patients to go under the knife.But in a city of contradictions, he's a much more complex man than the character portrayed on YouTube. Behind the persona is a deep personal belief that plastic surgery is an answer to teen bullying, a key to adult happiness -- even a divine calling. Spend an hour with Dr. Schnoz, and you'll begin to believe in him. Spend a day with him, and you'll be a convert. After a week, your new best friend will be shooting Botox into your forehead.
Yet, Salzhauer's latest stunt again pushes the boundaries of good taste. His "zombie awareness video campaign" offers free Botox, half-priced plastic surgery, and a free zombie makeover to whomever sends him the best undead selfie on Instagram with the hashtag #ZombieBeauty.
Salzhauer is also making a comedic YouTube video called "My Beautiful Zombie" directed by Jacques Santos.
It appears as if the ad campaign was in the works before Anesson Joseph went berserk in Palm Beach, but just happened to be announced in synch with the real-life zombie attack.
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