Private schools, well-known for their tolerance of the off-beat,  surely welcomed Kari Smith’s son into their fold (sarcasm). In 2005, unable to afford the pricey tuition, Kari did what…well, almost no one, I had hoped… would do. She offered her forehead as advertising space online and soon had a taker, the virtual casino “Golden Palace.com.”

Like me, you may have hoped that this was a random act of desperation but alas, it was just the beginning. While mobile marketing like wrapped cars are a frequent sight, they just aren’t able to get into tight spaces, like Wal-marts. Did I mention Ms. Smith collected a cool $10,000? That fact motivated dozens of other people to go under the tattoo gun.  If you think this sounds like a dandy idea, check out http://leaseyourbody.com. The website promises you will get “novel attention.” And for those of us who are writers, any attention, especially the “novel” kind, gives us pause.