TatAD: Tattooing For Bucks

Did you wake up this morning wishing you had a temporary or permanent tattoo of a company on your body, in return for money? I sure didn't, but TatAD thinks is this a grand idea for connecting advertisers with advertising space (and taking a cut in the process, I'm sure).

Their basic argument: you like certain companies, and you pay to get their products or services. Why not get some money in return from them?

Quotable quotes from their About Us page (with fun comma splices to boot):

Is it wrong to use the art of tattooing to get people paid? Don’t look at it as the corporate world has initiated this, the people have, we had no potential sponsors when we began, only people who wanted to be sponsored.

Of course! For decades, people have demanded that their most personal of possessions, their skin, should be scrawled with brands and taglines. Thankfully, TatAD is there to fulfill this valuable service.

I disagree with TatAD on the claim that this cheapens the art of tattoo: I think it very well does, taking a dig at the very personal expression that the art form allows for. A tattoo ad doesn't reflect someone's person. It expresses their interest in selling a portion of their skin for money, turning themselves into a billboard.

I can't help but think of the cover of Kalle Lasn's book, Culture Jam, with a barcode tattoo on the back of an unnamed man's neck. Is nothing sacred from the world of advertising?