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Ed Betz / AP file
Joe Tamargo sold ads on his body to various sites, like SaveMartha.com, which was set up to keep Martha Stewart from jail following her incitement for securities fraud.
The dotcom bubble may have burst long ago, but some of its lingering effects are permanently etched on the backsides, forearms and foreheads of a few human billboards. Buzzfeed profiled some people who still carry the “skinvertising” tattoos. They got cash from websites to ink ads directly onto their flesh back in the 2000s, when the trend was all the rage. The cash is gone. So too are many of the websites. But the ink remains.
Karolyne Smith sold her forehead space to online gambling site GoldenPalace for $10,000 and hit the talk show circuit. Her current Facebook picture shows her sporting blonde bangs down to her eyebrows. It's against the law to use the site from within the U.S. and several states are blocked from accessing the site at all.
Ed Betz / AP file
Joe Tamargo shows off a tattoo.
Joe Tamargo sold ads on his body to various sites, like SaveMartha.com, which was set up to keep Martha Stewart from jail following her incitement for securities fraud. The tattoo apparently didn't work, because the hostess with the mostess still went to prison (though, after serving her sentence, now free). Tamargo told Buzzfeed that when people ask about the tattoos ,“they're like, 'Yo, that's pretty cool. I'm going to check out those websites... And then they get there and there's nothing on the website.”
He's trying to buy himself some of the URLs on his body which lead to now defunct sites, like the former Viagra pill purveyor pilldaddy.com.
Other depressing vestiges of the trend include:
- Mark Greenlaw: Auctioned the back of his neck on eBay as advertising space in 2006 to a web hosting company called Glob@t to provide for his family while he was in Army basic training.
- Jim Nelson: Sold a very large chunk on the back of his head to CI Host for $7,000. He signed a contract agreeing he would travel to at least eight states and two countries a year or pay a $25,000 fine.
- Skinvertise.com: Billed itself as the first and original skin advertising agency, bringing together “skinvertisers” and advertising clients. The website now leads to a page that says the site is suspended.
Then there's the poster child for the skinvertising trend, Billy Gibby, who legally changed his name to Hostgator Dotcom after a website hosting company paid him for the “naming rights.” Tattoos for websites cover his face. He too has a giant ad for GoldenPalace filling his backside. In all, he says he has 37 tattoos. So how much does his flesh go for?
In a 2009 post on his blog Gibby announced he was selling 6”x1” forehead tattoos for $20,000 and 6”x1” and 4”x1” chest tattoos for $3,000 and $2,200, respectively.
“Let me be your company or website's billboard,” read the post.
Reached by email, Gibby said he's currently charging $1,500 for a tattoo on his body. Traditional economic theory would suggest that as demand has dropped, so have Gibby's prices.
Besides changing his prices, Gibby too has had a change of heart about being the walking, talking, literal “face” of so many websites.
“I no longer do tattoo ads on my head or face and plan to get those ones taken off one day with lasers,” he told NBC News in an email.
My kids don't really talk about my tattoos much but when they get older I'll let them know the reason I did it,” he wrote. “It does make me sad sometimes that I have them on my face but I know the reason I did it was to keep my kids from being homeless.”
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Leave a Comment:
Tattoos are forever or really expensive to take off. Maybe you should have asked the advertisers if they'd pay to have your tat removed if their .com failed.
This guy is the dumbest @!$%# alive and you think he should have thought to ask some questions first?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I feel for the guy so desperate he did it to keep a roof over his kids heads but really think it would have to be that extreme of a situation for me to do something like that.
Too bad he pretty much gauranteed not ever having a meaningful job ever again by doing it... Imagine walking into a job interview with .coms inked all over your face.
"keeping a roof" for the short term is not a good solution when it ruins the long term.
I don't. He's a total idiot like everyone else mentioned in this article. And I don't for one minute give a crap about his sob story about his kids. He could've made money some other way than being a living billboard.
These people are losers amongst losers.
I saw a tattoo once that read, "Support the president and vice president of the United States, McCain and Palin."
I wonder if Dewey ever got that tattoo "President of the United States?"
They deserved that tattoo. Advertise how stupid you can be.
It is indictment not incitement. They really need to stop paying reporters who don't turn in quality product.
That's an easy typo to make. But honestly, it's disingenuous for you to post a comment criticizing the reporter for using the wrong word (blame the lack of an editor) when your post contains a grammatical error.
The words "indictment" and "incitement" must be within quotes in your comment, since you are referring to them as words instead of using them.
All hail the Grammar Nazi Nazi, who only corrects the comments of Grammar Nazis!
I would have overlooked it once, but it wasn't just done once.
I don't get paid for my writing here, If they would like to pay me, I'll be happy to proof read everything I type and be careful to avoid careless errors.
Just about every story I read has some spelling mistake. If they are a professional then they need to put out a professional product.
I don't see a copy/paste job as "more than once," and in many organizations the picture/captions are done by another person.
Allow me to return to your original comment:
You want to fire people for making inconsequential errors, or at least not pay them for making a product that has an extremely minor defect. Somehow you don't seem to see how this is a tad excessive?
They should all get one more Tattoo that says "You can't fix stupid".
I think any tattoo pretty well delivers that message.
Ah....Ray Butt...another bleeding heart liberal...unless he wants to try and be funny. Then you realize just how inflated his opinion of what he believes in is.
Any time you're in San Diego look me up Ray. I'd love for you to tell me that in person.
Well, I stand corrected Deemo, your comment proves you're a regular Mensa Chapter President. Lemme guess, you have a neck tat, and it says "Mom" with a little cupid's heart?
I repeat: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Demmo probably has a tramp stamp....I'll bet his boyfreind just loves it.
I have no sympathy at all for these idiots.
I wouldn't hire one of these fools to scrub my toilets.
You sold tattoo space on your forehead and now you are starting to regret that you are a walking billboard for a defunct company? Wow. I mean seriously, who knew? Too bad none of their family or friends could have known this was a bad idea and told them they thought so....unless maybe someone DID tell them it was a bad idea, but they did it anyway. When will people learn that tattoos are permanent and even if it's "removed" you are permanently scarred?
Why does the author keep refering to him as Gibby? I thought his name was now Hostgator or, Mr. Dotcom.
Just as sad is the fact that he's missing an apostrophe on "its". saveMartha.com should at least pay to add it. Then he at least won't come off like an idiot with poor grammar.
I have tattoos and I love them. I don't think I'll ever regret them because I'm not covered in them, they're easily hidden, and I've thought long and hard about each one. I also know tattoos last forever. AND I know that companies, whether online or not, don't. Most people know what they're getting into when they get tattoos, so I don't understand how these people would have any reason to be upset that they still have them. Did they expect them to vanish once the company went under? I think most of these people are content with their choices (growing bangs, etc.). But I don't see how the last guy can complain when it was HIS decision to tattoo his face. I understand he was in a difficult situation, so I feel for him. But he knew what he was getting into, so I guess I just don't get it.
Doubt creeping in clearly.
Why have them then?
Allielcea, I really think you "don't get it"!
The dumbest thing you can have inked onto your body is SOMEONE ELSE'S NAME. I don't care who or what it is, having a name other than your own (nickname or other) tattooed on your body is setting yourself up for epic fail....
Bob, in general I would agree with you. However, I have my children's names tatted on my upper arm. Not an epic fail as far as I can see. Something of a blanket statement on your part, isn't it?
My brother has the words "your name" tattooed on his butt. That way he can say to his coworker, "I have your name tattooed on my butt". I grant that he has an unusual sense of humor but it's part of his charm.
Tattoos are a poor life choice no matter what is displayed.
Dan- That's a pretty broad statement. People get tattoos for tons of different reasons, and I don't think it's your place to throw a blanket judgement on them. Yes, there are some pretty stupid tattoos out there. Yes, some people get tattoos with little to no thought about the possible ramifications or placement. And if it makes them happy, so be it. Plenty of people, though, get tattoos that actually mean something. Some are in commemoration of an important event, like the birth of a child. Some are in memory of a loved one. Some are to remind the wearer of a certain event or feeling or life change. So yeah, if you want to work in a professional environment, maybe a face or hand tattoo is a poor choice. But there are plenty of very successful people with tattoos and maybe you know about them, maybe you don't. Maybe they're displayed and maybe they're hidden. Anyway, you are perfectly free to never get a tattoo and I will never judge you for that. So stop judging others who made a different decision. If it doesn't impede on their career, etc, then it probably won't affect their lives too much anyway.
Don't waste your time Allielcea..... Dan is obviously perfect.
Dan is not perfect....he's just correct.
I'll never regret having my daughter's name tattooed over my heart. If I made a poor life choice to display her name to myself and my husband then I guess it's my choice to make. Because her name is embedded into my flesh I feel that she is with me all the time, even though it's symbolic. It's all I have because she died shortly after she was born (and I know there's a lot of room for trolling here so I will add that she died of natural causes).
I hail the grammar Nazi (boom reason) if your still around ? I used to be a great speller, then I got married, had kids got stressed out and now I can't spell anything. Its nice to see there are intelligent people still in the world. Thanks for spreading the knowledge, its works better than spreading the wealth.
look mommy, a walking comic strip
I'm 76 years old. When I was a boy, it was the mark of a cheap women to have pierced ears. And to see a woman with a tattoo... you would have to go to the freak show at the carnival to find that. My how times changed.
At one time a tattoo said something about a man's masculinity, but as its popularity grew it lost its value as a symbol. However, a tattoo does say something about a woman's masculinity.
And now they sell advertising space on their bodies. If this catches on the Government may insist that we be tattooed with a warning label at birth 'do not to over feed'.
Old people.
With age comes wisdom.
I remember the Marlboro commercials in which the manly man had a tattoo on the hand that held the cigarette. Probably fake.
The Marlboro Man died of lung cancer.
2012: Heavily tattooed and peirced Ashley give birth to a daughter.
2026: Ashley's daughter asks, Mom, why did you do that to your body?, and why don't you know who my daddy was?
Deemo, what do you mean by your comment to Ray that "you would love for him to tell that to your face", are you threatening him? I hope not because you would be proving you are a very low class person
He's already proven that.
Wouldn't it be easier if the message appeared on a T-shirt?
tattoos are a permanent advertisement of your stupidity period