QR Codes and Temporary Tattoos

Not long ago, I found a web site called LeaseYourBody.com. (See the attached graphic image.)

I guess it's a better name than SellYourBody.com, since it was traditionally said that that was what prostitutes did.

It certainly could be argued that advertising products by offering to put company logos on your forehead using temporary tattoos such as those made by companies such as StrayTats.com would be better (and safer) than having sex with men or women one barely knows in exchange for money. Compared with prostitution, there's no risk of unwanted pregnancies, so it's a potential life saver for the unborn children who might otherwise be aborted by their prostitute mothers.

When it comes to making money, there are hipper alternatives which might be better than company logos when it comes to temporary tattoos. It might be especially useful from a commercial point of view if one offered to follow the latest trend by putting a graphic QR code on the temporary tattoo. (See the attached graphic files, which I found on the Internet.)

Considering the many manifestations QR codes can take (including plain text, as well as web URL addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, MeCards, VCards, and plain text), one can imagine all sorts of applications. One might even include an affiliate marketing URL, such as those used for selling products via companies such as Amazon.com, so that the person who scanned the QR code on one's face would be taken immediately to a web page where he or she could buy a product, thereby potentially providing one with a new source of revenue.

Note also that one can create dynamic QR codes, which is a good protection if you later change your mind or discover that you accidentally entered a typo when you created the original QR code. A Google search for the phrase "dynamic QR code generator" currently yields 467,000 search results!

One piece of advice: If the code on one's face is a potential source of income, it's probably a good idea to avoid homeless zombie face eaters high on bath salts. (Search the web if you have no idea what I am talking about, but only if you have a very strong stomach.)

Or if you prefer, use a more conventional means of spreading your QR code, such as printing it on a t-shirt or printing it on a pin-back button.

I shudder to think what Jerry Falwell would have thought of the latest craze for putting QR codes anywhere and everywhere. If he thought purple Teletubbies were covert agents for the homosexual community, he would have undoubtedly thought that a QR code in the form of a temporary face tattoo was the equivalent of the "mark of the Beast". "Don't you know," he might have fumed, "that there's a reason they're called QueeR codes!"

As a conservative Christian, I agreed with Falwell's opposition to the gay "rights" movement. But I will admit that Falwell sometimes tended to be a little bit paranoid. Not everything is a plot from hell, not even if one can easily envision it being used for nefarious purposes. I've even seen evidence that the QR code has been used, and is being used, for evangelistic purposes. Sometimes, a tool is just a tool, and its value depends on how it is used.

See the following images, which pertain to the preceding story.