Your Body as a Billboard: Revisited
Last week Inked Talk featured an article about a company in the UK that was surprised by how many people responded to a spoof ad offering to pay cash to anyone who would tattoo the company’s logo on their body. (If you missed the previous article, you can catch it here). It seems incredible that over one hundred people responded favorably to the fake advertisement, hoping to make some quick cash by selling ad space on their body. Those crazy Brits.
However, this apparently isn’t just some off phenomenon happening on the other side of the pond. In what appears to be a serious move to raise some funds for a motorcycle, a West Virginia man is selling ad space on his body.
James Burns has put his offer on eBay. With the starting bid at $99, Burns says he will get a tattoo of a company logo or whatever else the buyer wants — as long as it does not involve profanity, the Charleston Daily Mail reported.
Burns said he would like to get a tattoo protesting high gas prices. But he’s willing to take almost anything.
The tattoo will be on his head or neck. He promises to shave his hair for a year for tattoos that might otherwise be covered.
The buyer must also pay for the tattoo unless the bidding goes above $5,000.
I attempted to find Burns’ ad on eBay but wasn’t able to locate it. However, I did find another advertisement for tattoo ad space:
I’m a 19 year old male. Im 6′ tall and 170 lbs and I am selling my upper arms lower legs or back or possibly my neck for tattoo advertising space for college. I live in St. Louis Missouri and would consider looking over local tattoo artists to be used. This is a great opportunity to advertise your company or corporation. Please make a reasonable bid nothing rediculously low.
You can view that eBay auction here while it lasts. This fellow sadly started his auction at just ninety-nine cents…I hope his bid goes over a couple of bucks.
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April 17th, 2008 at 7:44 am
His auction ended up sadly but several people in the media have taken interest in him. He just did an interview for a Kansas morning show today. This is is wife btw, if you have any question just drop me a line. He is still taking donations through paypal via tattoomyhead@gmail.com
April 18th, 2008 at 10:48 am
[...] For Sale by Jennifer Hoffman Last week Inked Talk brought you an article about James Burns, a man who was selling the rights to tattoo an advertisement on his [...]
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
[...] for Rent…Again… by Jennifer Collins Six months ago, Inked Talk shared the story of James Burns, a man who was selling a spot on his body for a permanent, tattooed advertisement. Having fallen [...]