Ah tattoos… For some, they’re a little luxury. For others they ostensibly rhyme with taboo. But either way, they have become clever advertising machines. Every day on the walk home past St. Marks, I walk by at least a dozen tattoo shops. And as I marvel at all the ink branding, I have to wonder: did media perpetuate tattoo popularity, perhaps even use tattoos as another selling platform that connects people with the abstract, the aspirational?

For years tattoos have defined something seemingly undefinable– a lifestyle. It’s no secret that tattoos have gained in mass market appeal (in 1936, Life stated 6% of Americans tattooed; in 2000 National Geographic stated 15% of Americans tattooed; in 2006, American Academy of Dermatology stated up to 24% between 18-50 tattooed). In my opinion, this happened due mostly to traditional mass media, where images of this trend have been disseminated into the American mainstream as permanently as tattoos themselves. And since tattoos make such a strong marketing statement, marketers have catapulted even more creative ways to advertise[...]