Use your head!

March 18, 2004 2:36 PM

Headvertisement. I'm sure you're asking yourself, 'What kind of modification are we talking about?' Well, simply put, it is not a permanent change, but something that will get you individually noticed in any crowd. What we do is supply you a temporary tattoo, which will be placed on your forehead, by our regional representatives.
posted by _sirmissalot_ (18 comments total)

I'm in if Bushmills are.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:58 PM on March 18, 2004

Where's the section that mentions how anyone without one of these marks upon their forehead will be unable to buy or sell?
posted by mathis23 at 2:58 PM on March 18, 2004

this is in your face advertising to the extreme!

Shouldn't that be on your face advertising?

The only thing surprising about this is that it has taken so long to appear. Companied have been advertising on students' bodies for years without paying a cent simply by placing their brand name on clothing. I wonder how long it will take for this to appear on athletes? I also wonder how long it will be before people are offered money to permanently tattoo advertising on their bodies?

I imagine that the advertising will not work as well if it is placed on the forehead of female students, as only half of the student population will be looking that high.
posted by dg at 3:07 PM on March 18, 2004

Nevertheless, the people behind this should be killed.
posted by Spacelegoman at 3:15 PM on March 18, 2004

"All the cool kids are doing it... "

Ack.
posted by fillsthepews at 4:17 PM on March 18, 2004

And everybody knows that you've gotta do what the cool kids are doing, because if you don't then you're a loser.

Actually the thought of college students selling forehead space is pretty damned funny. And I would have probably done it when I was scrapping for beer money.
posted by fenriq at 4:42 PM on March 18, 2004

I also wonder how long it will be before people are offered money to permanently tattoo advertising on their bodies?

Here in San Francisco, a taqueria called Casa Sanchez tried just that. Well, not money but free lunches. The result: overwhelming response
posted by vacapinta at 4:42 PM on March 18, 2004

I wonder what the school's take on all of this is? Or the professors who have idiot students sitting in their classes with adverts on their faces pulling in a "handsome" $150 a week.
posted by fenriq at 4:47 PM on March 18, 2004

Hmmm, something dj mentioned has me thinking. If I were an athlete, why not where a green screen somewhere on my body. Then, my agent working the phones, can work deals during the game to get the best advertising placed on the screen. They do this in major ballparks for the TV audiences, why not on the person? Tense moments of the game would have different value than boring moments. If I am a major league baseball pitcher, do I let the count run up to 3 balls-two strikes in order to have Nike flash the logo on my pitching arm?
posted by fluffycreature at 4:52 PM on March 18, 2004

The average student will earn $150 per week

Look like a complete schmuck for only $150? My forehead is premium real estate. I'm not even talking for anything less than $500 weekly.
posted by jennyb at 6:01 PM on March 18, 2004

What would stop the "real estate" from wearing a hat or bandana to cover the ad? You'd have to get someone to go around and perform surveillance. If a large enough group of people on campus started doing this, the agency would have to either hire or automate more and more surveillance. Cliques could form of folks who wear decoy bandanas to stump the watchers, intent on easy funding for, say, printing revolutionary leaflets.

A subculture of "hiders" would develop. Most often fraternity rushes, but occasionally down-on-their-luck poor students and addicted up-and-coming dropouts, the greatest injustice bestowed on one would be to force them to remove their headgear in a crowded room.
posted by greensweater at 7:26 PM on March 18, 2004

I'm going to be the neighborhood cynic and call shenanigans on this. I think it's an elaborate hoax.
posted by dejah420 at 7:38 PM on March 18, 2004

Sounds like bullshit to me.
posted by monkeyman at 7:59 PM on March 18, 2004

The president is listed as one Justin Kapust, a student at Johnson & Wales University, and Googling for that not-very-common name produces a couple hits for someone by that name who started out at Delaware Valley College and transferred to Johnson & Wales. Googling the other e-mail address produces this Yahoo profiles page (which lists one of his interests as"Adult Babies"), and the hometown of Newton, MA matches this mention, which cross-references to Headvertise.

So it may be a hoax. But this Justin Kapust seems like a real person, at least.
posted by Vidiot at 8:20 PM on March 18, 2004

I'm guessing this is a joke.
posted by SisterHavana at 10:17 PM on March 18, 2004

I thought it was a hoax, but . . .
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 10:27 PM on March 18, 2004

Because, of course, everything you read in the newspaper is true and newspapers never fall for hoaxes.
posted by dg at 11:03 PM on March 18, 2004

touché.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 12:16 AM on March 19, 2004