Needled News by Marisa DiMattia

Tattoo news this week recycled the same old clichés about how body art is no longer just for the wild at heart, and how tattoos can now be seen on doctors, lawyers and accountants, oh my! When journos just cut and paste the same opening line for tattoo news, it’s a signal that they won’t be getting any link play from me. But while there was nothing really new in the news this past week, I have been seeing some interesting developments in on- and off-line advertising using tattoos to hawk products from designer clothing to printer ink to mortgages.

It’s bizarre, really. Remember when tattooed folk were used in ads to relay the freakish, almost polar opposite of the product’s demographic? They told us, only this smelly punk rock chic would ban our best selling deodorant. They used images of biker babes to tell us how not to be a fashion Don’t. But now that we’re a Do, the message has clearly changed.

With the freak factor largely gone, marketers have sought to put a positive spin on body art in ads, so that you take a closer look at the product, not look away in horror. Some of the ads are effective, while others are ridiculously over-reaching. I have gathered together a few and passed judgement, and so, for today’s column, I’d like to offer the good, the bad, and the ugly of recent ad campaigns using tattoo cool.

The Good



Juicy Couture is a fashion label that I associate more with soccer moms than rock goddesses but the latest ads for their fragrance Eau de Couture could appeal to ladies who lunch as well as Lydia Lunch. Following the Marie Antoinette hype, this two-page ad spread features this heavily tattooed hottie of the One(M) agency pondering how he ended up in Versailles wearing a satin strapless number. It also got me thinking that tattoo and couture are truly no longer mutually exclusive terms. A+



I always gotta give props to Converse. Chuck Taylors, an American classic, have featured tattoos in their advertising for at least 15 years, telling people to “be themselves.” This ad image, using a model with real facial work, came out this past summer and isn't really new, but it recently caught my attention when a client came into our tattoo studio with a print-out of it asking to base a tattoo -- not on the model’s tribal -- but on the sneaker design. A fabulous reverse example on the relationship between body art and marketing.


The Bad



I’m on the fence here. The octopus backpiece with the words “Save Money on Ink” is clever and the faux design itself is well done. Still, using tattoo art to whore printer supplies makes me uncomfortable. [About as uncomfortable as some people are with a lawyer writing a tattoo column for a pin-up site.] When Office Max uses your look as their poster child, that hammers in the final nail in your underground cool coffin. What’s next, Walmart using suspension teams to advertise sales in fishing gear?


The Ugly



I know. I know. It ain't pretty. A roving tattoo machine telling you that you can lower your interest rates just begs you to [insert snide commentary]. It writes itself, so I’m out. Gotta buy some new Chucks.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.