When you want to get your name out there - sometimes you've got to come up with clever ways to do it.
That's something Rotterdam tattoo artist Dex Moelker and his company clearly hoped for when they were named as the ones who inked the Facebook tattoo requested by a Dutch woman of 152 of her Facebook friends. And boy, did it work. The story spread like a wildfire online. After newspapers and major online outlets, including CNN.com, put the story out ââ¬â it was a hot-button topic. Ironically, as of this moment more than 7,000 people recommended this story on Facebook ââ¬â perhaps in part because they thought it was ridiculous. And it turns out, that's just what it was.
The tattoo that sparked the Web frenzy isn't real. First off, I think a few people can give a sigh of relief that it isn't real. And we haven't really gone that far off the social media deep end to where our Facebook walls are displayed Matrix-style on our arms. As we said before, it wouldn't have been the first time someone tried to capture fame by using a social network site to name their kid or to get a tattoo. In this case it was all about publicity.
Moelker just came clean to the Dutch newspaper the Telegraaf, saying it was in fact a publicity stunt. The woman in the video didn't have the tattoo inked during a 30-hour period as the video claimed.
It is a try out tattoo, a transfer, that washes off in a couple of days, he told them.
Phew. It may take some scrubbing to get it off, but I guess on the bright side that's all it will take. When it comes to viral videos, you never know what you're going to get (I'm looking at you, Rebecca Black. I still don't get if that song is real). But ironically, in this case, the ink shop got just what it wanted ââ¬â a lot of free press. Hats off for an international viral campaign. It's not great when media outlets worldwide are duped by viral videos or stories ââ¬â but if you're looking at it from a marketing perspective ââ¬â you've got to like how well they pulled it off.
