Are
you a tattoo virgin? Are you up for making some legal, if slightly
tasteless money? If so, you may consider selling your skin as a blank
canvas to a company wanting to advertise its wares on your skin.
Surprisingly, this is not a new idea. The idea was first put in print
in Vibe magazine 20 years ago when they predicted that one day firms
would pay to people walk around with advertising slogans tattooed on
their visible skin. A fair stretch from being paid to walk around with
a sandwich board…

Since 1999, many people have either used
their fame to receive funds for advertising via tattoos, or become
famous because they had an advertising tattoo displayed on their body.
It is said the first occasion was when a US basketball player turned
down the opportunity to have a slogan from a candy company tattooed for
a fee in 2001. A few months later, cheerleaders were paid to have
temporary tattoos on their midriffs at a Dance Team event. However, the
most notorious tattoo ad that was carried out must be the one Golden
Palace Casino paid $100,000 to the boxer, Bernard Hopkins to wear on
his back during a match. This proved to be wildly effective, increasing
online hits by 200% for the company and spawned a new advertising
campaign method par excellence.

The first permanent tattoo was displayed for a princely sum of $7000
on the back of a man’s head by a web hosting service in 2003. A couple
of years later, a certain Andrew Fischer gained worldwide notoriety for
auctioning his forehead space on eBay for temporary tattoo advertising,
with the final bid coming in at $37,375 for thirty days’ worth. Since
then, tattoo advertising has almost become a mainstream activity with
many well known brands deciding that this was a good use of their
advertising dollar. So much so, in fact, that papers began to report
that there were more people selling parts of their body for advertising
than there were buyers. It is still true, though that tattoo
advertising is a viable way of making money, despite the fact that the
fewer tattoos you have, the more money you are likely to be offered for
the privilege.

Some get all moral and up tight about tattoo advertising, especially
the permanent kind, but others feel that this is a legitimate way to
use your body. So much so that middle men have popped up all over the
place. You can now register your willingness with an agency which
matches potential advertising tattooists with the companies that want
to rent their skin. Beware, though, as some of these ask for money up
front. Many people will only offer to have a temporary tattoo, but
others are willing to go permanent. Some would say though that this is
a bit silly as most end up regretting their decision. Prime example of
someone who should regret her decision would have to be Kari Smith.
Kari had a permanent tattoo saying: goldenpalace.com inked across her
forehead…

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