I saw this initially on Jewzoo and it really made me a little sad.
There is a story that goes alongside the picture and explains why this woman allowed her forehead to be purchased for ad space.
“Smith’s ad is a labor of love and actually a positive in her life, something she says her life hasn’t been filled with lately: a failed marriage and deaths of several family members — most recently, her sister in a car crash April 18.
Smith said the money will give her son the education boost she believes he needs after falling behind in school since the accident.
“For the all the sacrifices everyone makes, this is a very small one,” she said. “It’s a small sacrifice to build a better future for my son.”
Still, Smith said she knows most people won’t understand why she’s sold her forehead as advertising space.
“I really want to do this,” she said. “To everyone else, it seems like a stupid thing to do. To me, $10,000 is like $1 million. I only live once, and I’m doing it for my son.”
Brouse didn’t understand it, either.
In his 24 years, he’s turned away a lot of customers who want to get tattoos that can’t be covered up with clothing. He and his staff spent nearly seven hours Wednesday trying to talk Smith out of it.Her resolve won out. The one thing Brouse could do with inch-tall letters in the prominent spot was to make them less so by keeping them as close to her hairline for those occasions when bangs or a hat might be the more appropriate message.
Smith’s boyfriend, Jeremy Williams, said the couple discussed the idea for more than three weeks before deciding to go through with it. And when they did, Smith’s eBay auction attracted more than 27,000 hits and 1,000 watchers.
Bidding reached $999.99 before Goldenpalace.com, an Internet gambling company in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake, Canada, clicked “buy now,” meeting Smith’s $10,000 asking price and ending the auction two days early.
Smith said she talked to several companies and received multiple offers, but she decided Goldenpalace.com would be the best choice.
“We decided to go with these guys because they work with a lot of charities,” she said. “I want this to mean something.”
I think that there is just something sad about a woman who feels like this is necessary. As a parent I can understand the drive to try and provide for your children. I really hope that this makes a difference because she sold that space for very little and it will take some time to see if there is a price that she will have to pay for having done so.
In a touch of irony, the woman did it to fund her son’s education, but she has already taught him an important lesson: selling yourself for money is okay.
The even scarier part is the fact that this is going to become fashionable, perhaps even common.
For years, idiots with more bourbon than brains have inked up their bodies with messages for free.
Now, they found a way to get PAID for it? Plus all the media attention and notoriety?
It’s also a big win for GoldenPalace. For the bargain-basement price of $10,000, this photo is going to appear in major dailies all over the world. A full color ad in a single edition of the New York Times alone can cost more than that.
Not to mention hundreds of blogs, just like this one.
Write it down, you heard it here first. This is not a one-act drama.
*Morris Workman
http://www.mesquedia.com
workmanchronicles.blogspot.com
Tattoo removal leaves a nasty, nasty scar. It’s gotten better in recent years, but I’ve seen the results. Not good. And on the face, where the skin is so delicate? She has mutliated herself.
Not a silly question at all. Tattoos can be removed, but it is an elective surgery and not cheap to do.
Silly question, but – despite the word on the street I’ve heard that tatoos CAN be removed. Hate to sound like I’m missing the point, but that changes things a bit doesn’t it?
That is an excellent question. Everything here makes me wonder. I wonder about the company that is willing to pay for tattoed people, I wonder if the woman really needed the money and if she will spend it the “right” way.
I wonder if she thought it out and I wonder about her son.
It is a very troubling story, at least to me it is.
That tattoo will still be on her forehead long after the company she’s advertising has gone out of business (and long after that $10,000 has disappeared). What’s she going to do then?????
It is not good PR, at least I do not think so.
It is very sad, Jack. And I think the company that paid her to do it is disgusting.