Advertising and the Human Billboard

First published at DaganDesigns.com (22 January 2005) and reprinted here with additional material and resources. Original title: Advertising: Trends and Personal Boundaries.

What is meant by the term Advertising?

... n. (1) The fine art of lying to consumers about what is actually being sold. (2) A notable amendment of capitalist theory, whereby the market comes to favor, not the producers who sell the best product, but those who sell the best image. (3) A substantial misallocation of economic resources, whereby a tremendous portion of the economy which could do something useful, is wasted. (This misfortune has the additional demerit of providing a substantial competitive edge to those who use it.) For example, for each packet of mixed vegetables sold at the supermarket, more money is spent to place a colored picture on the packet than actually goes to the farmer. (4) ...
(http://jonathanscorner.com/writings/hud/hud.html)

All of us recognize the truths contained within that set of descriptors. As a working definition, however, let's use this:

Advertising
Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information, usually paid for, and usually persuasive in nature, about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.
(http://www.murdoch.edu.au/admin/policies/
murdochnet/glossary.html)

Which might be simplified like this:

ad, advertisement, advertizement, advertising, advertizing, advert
a public promotion of some product or service
advertising, publicizing
the business of drawing public attention to goods and services
(http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/
webwn?stage=1&word=advertising)

For purposes of this loosely knit survey, our working definition provides sufficient scaffolding to explore some interesting ideational shifts and illustrate a few advertising strategies. The simplified definitions represent our bottom line, devoid of ethical qualification.

Nonpersonal versus personal...

Note that our working definition specifies the nonpersonal communication of information. In this context, nonpersonal means not of, pertaining to, or coming from a particular person, or without personality, similar to impersonal: not relating to or responsive to individual persons; "an impersonal corporation"; "an impersonal remark". Here's an example of its usage in matters of privacy:

The University defines nonpersonal information as "...limited factual data, which could not, in any reasonable way reflect or convey anything detrimental, disparaging, or threatening to an individual's reputation, rights, benefits, privileges, or qualifications."
[Emphasis added.]
(http://iam.ucsc.edu/Resources/Definitions/
Definition_of_Nonpersonal_Information.htm)

The ad conveyed upon a billboard communicates information in a nonpersonal manner. A billboard may not even register as an object to the observer, who will apprehend the ad without, in most cases, succumbing to ideas of personal reference. The ad is not personally directed, after all, and it does not demand a personal response. Indeed, it may have little or no significance in comparison with other exigencies experienced at the moment of observation.

But other factors can intervene to increase the personal relevance of the billboard, perhaps elevating its ad to the significance of a message. If the billboard is the body of a truck in traffic, vehicle proximity, range and speed of movement, and related apperceptions may lead to judgments which raise an otherwise subliminally attended ad to the level of conscious interest. The bored driver may experience that interest in an unconscious search for stimulation.

TruckSkin truck side advertising turns your truck into a mobile billboard without the restriction of a set location. TruckSkin truckside ads change your van body into a billboard. The skins are easy to change, inexpensive, and efficient. The CPM of truck side advertising is lower than most any other method... These ads are visually arresting works of art... Click to see samples from TruckSkin® (www.truckskin.com)

Changing definitions...

Ian Johnston is a retired instructor (now a Research Associate) at Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, British Columbia. In an essay entitled My Body the Billboard (1998), Johnston writes about signs which once gave expression to our personal "connection to something outside ourselves, our sense of a shared community of interest, experience, or belief". Such signs might include clothing, for example, "like kilts, old school ties, blazers with crests, pullovers with special designs... special pins, rings, hats with badges... religious icons, like crucifixes or Stars of David, on a necklace or a lapel". Signage of this sort generally was worn by persons entitled to wear it and thus, the presence of the sign admitted of inference regarding that person. But Johnston believes that, "in part because we live such rapidly changing lives in a society marked by constant motion[,] ...the stability essential to confer significance on such signs has largely gone".

Image Credit: CNNmoney™ SportsBiz column by Chris Isidore 28 September 2001

...But we still must attach ourselves to something. Lacking the conviction that the traditional things matter, we turn to the last resort of the modern world: the market. Here there is a vast array of options, all equally meaningless in terms of traditional values, all equally important in identifying the one thing left to us for declaring our identity publicly, our fashion sense and disposable income. The market naturally manipulates the labels, making sure we keep purchasing what will most quickly declare us excellent consumers. If this year a Chicago Bulls jacket or Air Jordan shoes are so popular that we are prepared to spend our way into a trendy identity, then next year there will be something else. People will, of course, want them, because they will be massaged by constant advertising (which accounts for the exorbitant pricing, according to which, for example, Michael Jordan earns more from endorsing Nike than the entire payroll of the factory which makes the shoes which bear his name). Don't resist the urge, now; just do it.

Image Credit: StickerGiant.com Copyright: Microcosm, 2003

...Lacking a sufficiently vigorous sense of a traditional commitment to faith, community, family, and country, we define ourselves in terms of our allegiance to market labels...

...It is a great mistake to underestimate the power of the market. Given that people have already handed so much over to the service of that company which will soon be knocking at the door, it is perhaps rash to predict that people will not be eager to fork over big money to turn their homes and their possessions into what they themselves have already become, commercial billboards.

In a society fixated on progress and continuous increase, persuaded in the very act of relating that we must participate in order to belong, whether through the acquisition of objects, experience or dreams that the market can provide, we are convinced that what we need is external to the self. We succumb to memes that inform of the new and hip. We identify, however thinly, with those we admire. We mimic those in whose company we share a sense of common experience. Endorsements and testimonials are excellent examples of a shift from the nonpersonal to the personal, in this context. It's almost as if these famous individuals are talking to me, share my problems, know what we need. And because we want to believe, we can touch their "cool" by acquiring what they recommend. Seeking the centered self, we search by superficial association.

• The Dream Society: How the coming shift from information to imagination will transform your business
  Rolf Jensen; McGraw-Hill Professional (1999); ISBN: 0071368191
• The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage
  B. Joseph Pine II & James A. Gilmore; Harvard Business School Press (1999); Product Number: 8192; ISBN: 0875848192
• Frontiers of the Experience Economy
  James H. Gilmore, Batten Briefings (2003)
• "The Net upends tenets of loyalty marketing"
  Richard G. Barlow; Advertising Age, 17 April 2000

  What captivates us now is special stuff, stuff that only a few of us can get, stuff that stands for something or symbolizes something. And, more compelling than stuff, are experiences — events, trips, places, sights, sounds, tastes that are out of the ordinary, memorable in their own right, precious in their uniqueness and fulfilling in a way that seems to make us more than we were... Some describe this phenomenon as "the experience economy."

• How to Join The Experience Economy
  Simon Daisley, Managing Director, Profusion International;
  European Centre for Customer Strategies

  In the experience economy that we now inhabit, the principal currency is word of mouth recommendation between friends and family. The only way you can build capital in this new economy is by providing a truly memorable experience for people when they touch your organisation. These "magic moments" become embedded in your customers" consciousness and determine the way they think and feel not only about you, but about your competitors as well. It also influences their behaviour and actions...

Digital advances in the "body as billboard"

Image Credit: Everett Collection, Inc.: Entertainment and Historical Photography Click image, or click here to enlarge

In the photo at left, shot during the Great Depression (circa: 1930s), William Starenstein of Coney Island, NY, wears a sign in Times Square, stating his circumstances, his need for employment, and his qualifications.

We don't see many walking billboards in the City of Ottawa these days. Those we do see are often treated as an intrusion. We walk briskly, with much on our minds. In the digital age, much of consciousness is virtually engaged. We avoid in-your-face encounters. Reading a walking billboard, let alone engaging the bearer in conversation, however brief, is an unwelcomed distraction. Times have changed. Everybody's got a story...

Signs are everywhere. We may not see many in residential neighborhoods, except during elections, when placards proliferate in yards and windows, but posters and flyers fill storefront windows, get taped to streetlamps and telephone posts, and now, they even get pasted on the sidewalk.

Most of the time, signs are interesting in the absence of other signs. Unless we're actively searching for information, a profusion of signs induces attention deficit. We simply dissociate. The visual stimuli are reduced to "noise" or, for many of us, not even seen.

If all of the signs were concentrated in one place, that might be better. We would look in that direction only when we wanted information. Wouldn't that be a relief? And if that source were digital...

In 2003, two Australian entrepreneurs developed an idea that does just that, capitalizing on the digital mindset. They created TV T-shirts.

Source:
The human billboards
Kate Cox, 23 November 2003
Sydney Morning Herald

...Two young Sydney entrepreneurs and best mates have come up with an innovative marketing scheme: canvas vests with built-in mini televisions that show moving advertisements.

The world-first concept has already been sold to Telstra and was unveiled last night at the Rugby World Cup final - with "Telstra girls" turning heads in the T-shirts.

Ben Perry and Veeran Naran Image Credit: Fiona-Lee Quimby Sydney Morning Herald

Veeran Naran, 28, began developing the idea - and a company, Channel Zero - while working as a graphic designer and editor for large sporting and entertainment clients.

"The 25- to 31-year-olds market, in Australia especially, are not at home watching television, they're at pubs watching television and people," he said. "So I decided to put televisions on people."

Two years in the making, the "TelePAK" is powered by a lithium battery and run by DVD, meaning the screening time is unlimited and the interactive "program" can be changed by the model via remote control.

Mr Naran's best mate, 29-year-old former geologist Ben Perry, looks after the business affairs.

The company's "fusion between a bag and a T-shirt" (and rather large fashion statement) is the latest marketing ploy following the use of Vespas, cars, moving billboards and pavements as advertising mediums... [Read more]

Personal boundaries in the relational personality
In Age of Access: The new culture of hypercapitalism where all of life is a paid-for experience (2000), Jeremy Rifkin writes of the new relational personality, in which the centered self is attenuated in response to virtual and real relationships, and to networks of social and economic relationships (208ff.). The near riot of social interaction pulls and tugs on every individual consciousness, forcing a loss of the centered self. Caught up in the waves of competing and often contradictory social discourses that flood over us, we all desperately divide up our limited attention, giving bits and pieces of our consciousness over to each passing demand on our time. In the process, we risk slowly losing ourselves in the labyrinthine network of short-lived and ever changing connections in which we find ourselves embedded. (209) Personal reality is understood less in terms of traditional and enduring allegiances, than it is in terms of highly fluid associations characterized by contextual qualifications and limited involvement. Personal boundaries in the relational personality are applied in a state of flux and frequently must be redefined.		www.commercialalert.org Source: Ad Creep overview Americans feel assaulted by ads. There are ads in schools, airport lounges, doctors offices, movie theaters, hospitals, gas stations, elevators, convenience stores, on the Internet, on fruit, on ATM’s, on garbage cans and countless other places. There are ads on beach sand and restroom walls. "I don't know if anything is sacred anymore," Mike Swanson, who directs ad placement for the ad agency Carmichael Lynch, told the Associated Press. This assault intensifies virtually every day. With ad budgets skyrocketing, advertising techniques inevitably become more invasive and coercive. Advertisers are engaged in a relentless battle to claim every waking moment, and what one executive called, with chilling candor, "mind share."

Self expression: tattoos and body piercings

We are influenced by the multiple realities, virtual and real, in which we live. Participation in those realities, the pursuit of experience to give meaning to and enrich our lives, often necessitates certain actions or the acquisition of specific products that constitute a form of tacit currency. Without that currency, we aren't admitted. Access is denied.

Designer fashions, footwear, cellphones, or other signage is often part of that currency, as may be other behavioral or linguistic expressions that become symbols or significators of the peer gestalt. Advertisers appeal to such characteristics. One company filmed drinkers at a bar over the course of several weeks, then analyzed reels of footage to discover that imbibers of a popular beer tended not to drink alone - they drank in the company of others. Ads for said beer were subsequently developed to emphasize that specific subliminal.

Image Credit: Dennis Mojado Tattoo: Wikipedia.org

Sources:
The Art of Tattooing - Joshua Andrews
In Tattoo, Wikipedia.org

Prevalence

It is impossible to give exact figures since there is no reporting on the number of tattoos performed, but the evidence suggests that tattooing (along with piercing and some other forms of body modification) is rapidly gaining in popularity in many parts of the world, and is gaining mainstream acceptance in many areas, particularly in the west.

Many of us wear body jewelry of some sort (an ear stud, rings, etc.), and many of us have at least one tattoo, however small and inconspicuous. Whether undertaken as a self-motivated (including magical) act, a peer-mediated (including religious) act, or for cosmetic purposes, these are personal statements. They serve in some respects as personal boundaries, as signage on the dermatological billboard that delimits oneself. They might also represent status or other significators of social character. Some tattoos are permanent, intended to last for life, while others are temporary, lasting only a few days.

• Study shows gender differences with tattoos and piercing among college students
  News-Medical, Medical Study News (4 December 2004)
  

  UF researchers co-authored a study published recently in the journal Personality and Individual Differences that examined gender differences and personality traits among college students who had at least one tattoo or non-traditional piercing, defined as located anywhere other than the earlobe. Popular piercing sites include the eyebrows, nose, lips, tongue, chin, nipples, navel and genitals.
  
  "Fifty years ago, generally Americans did not have tattoos or any alternative body modification," said Eric Storch, a UF assistant professor of pediatrics and psychiatry and a study co-author. "Times have really quite quickly changed."
  
  More than 80 percent of the 160 women surveyed were pierced but less than 20 percent were tattooed, Storch said. In contrast, half the men in the study had piercings and half had tattoos. Men also waited longer to get pierced -- 40 percent took the plunge at age 18 or older, compared with less than 20 percent of women.
  
  "My initial interpretation is that this very much reflects societal points of view," Storch said. "That is, it is very acceptable for a woman to have piercings in multiple places and a bit less so for men."
  
  One aspect of piercing where gender seemed irrelevant was that both men and women with multiple piercings reported greater incidence of stressful life experiences, Storch said. Piercings might help some people work through past trauma by giving them a permanent reminder of a difficult event in their lives, he said...

• Tattooing and Piercing
  Health Canada (2004-04-29)
  

  Tattoos and ear/body piercings are very popular, especially among those aged 18 to 22. Between 73 and 83 percent of women in the U.S. have had their ears pierced. An American university survey in 2001 found that 51 percent of students had piercings and 23 percent had tattoos. U.S. studies show that the number of women with tattoos quadrupled between 1960 and 1980. The number of tattooing and piercing shops in Canada has increased dramatically in the last few years.

• Newest fad in tattoos may be getting rid of them
  Michael Hill, Associated Press (29 November 2003)
  

  ...Tattoos, once commonly associated with bikers and veterans, proliferated in the '90s on skin of all types of people - from students to bartenders to bankers. In a nationwide poll this year by the Scripps Survey Research Center, 15 percent of respondents said they had a tattoo. The percentage almost doubled among 18- to 34-year-olds...

• The Harris Poll® #58, 8 October 2003
  A Third of Americans With Tattoos Say They Make Them Feel More Sexy
  

  A recent Harris Poll finds that 16% of all adults have at least one tattoo. The highest incidence of tattoos was found among the gay, lesbian and bisexual population (31%) and among Americans ages 25 to 29 years (36%) and 30 to 39 years (28%). Regionally, people living in the West (20%) are more likely to have tattoos.
  
  Democrats are more likely to have tattoos (18%) than Republicans (14%) and Independents (12%) while equal percentages of males (16%) and females (15%) have tattoos...
  
  This survey was conducted online between July 14 and 20, 2003 by Harris Interactive® among a nationwide sample of 2,215 adults.

Body advertising...

The auction began Jan-16-05 07:40:43 PST and it ended Jan-21-05 07:40:43 PST. There were 45 bids, and the winning bid was US $37,375.00.
What are we talking about?

Not what, but who:

Andrew Fischer, "the guy who is selling his forehead on eBay".

Image Credit: Andrew Fischer

From Andrew's auction description on eBay:

The winner of this auction will receive one (1) prime advertisement spot for placement of their domain name or logo. This domain name cannot contain or link to material with offensive material, i.e.: words, slogans, phrases, images, or symbols (if you are not sure, feel free to ask prior to bidding), and will not be permanent, but will remain on this prime advertisement spot for a period of 30 days. 30 days isn't long enough? At the end of the 30 days if you wish to extend your lease, this can be negotiated, but is not guaranteed. Where will this prime advertising space be located? You will be leasing an area about the size of my forehead. Actually it really will be my forehead. As I go around town doing my thing, going to work, movies, the mall, hanging out with friends, etc, your domain name will be plastered smack dab on my noggin. Any interviews I do on television will all be promoting your company, as your logo will be on my forehead the entire time. Should this idea get any media recognition, there I will be, with your domain name proudly displayed for all to see for 30 days.

The auction got a lot of press. Some pundits are calling Andrew a marketing genius.

• Rainbow Rowell: Ad offer promises lots of face time
  Omaha World Herald | 12 January 2005
  This all started as a way to make some money, maybe to go back to school. Andrew is a Millard North graduate, class of 2002, and has been thinking about studying graphic design. Right now, he has a part-time job as a Web designer and does some freelance work... His auction has inspired a slew of imitators. There are now plenty of foreheads for sale on eBay, as well as other body parts. But so far, Andrew's is the only one bringing in big bids. His is the original forehead. (If there have been auctions like his before, he hasn't heard of them.)



• Forehead ad auction hits $30,000
  BBC NEWS | Technology | 14 January 2005
  The entrepreneur said his mother was initially surprised by his decision but following all the media attention she felt he was "thinking outside the box".



• Forehead auction sparks worldwide media interest
  Newtown:Live | 20 January 2005
  This might sound like a daft idea, but with all global media coverage that has followed, the value of this advert has soared. The major networks in the US - ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC - have all covered the story, and he's appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Andrew now stands to make a fortune.
  
  "The winner will be able to send me a tattoo or have me go to a tattoo parlour and get a temporary ink tattoo on my forehead and this will be something they choose, a company name or domain name, perhaps their logo," he told the BBC.
  
  Andrew now stands to make a small fortune.
  
  "If you aren't in marketing, you should be." says one visitor to the Ebay auction. "Great idea! Hope you make a bundle."

Not a new idea...

Already interviewed ABC, BBC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC and more, Andrew appears to have fared well indeed. But this form of advertising isn't new by any means, and neither is the auctioning of one's heADspace on eBay. Jim Nelson did that in 2003, when he successfully auctioned off the back of his head to the highest bidder in return for cash to start his own business.

World's First 'Living' Advertisement Makes A Big Splash
Send2Press

BEDFORD, TX - December 8, 2003 /Send2Press Newswire/ -- In the 6 months that a 22-year-old Illinois man has had "C I Host" and "Managed Web Hosting" tattooed on the back his head, the company has counted 500 new customers who bought C I Host's services because they saw the tattoo.

"This has been a tremendous success," said Christopher Faulkner, CEO of C I Host. "Jim Nelson is a great salesman and we are happy to have the 500 new customers who have come from his marketing efforts and the publicity generated by the tattoo."

...After C I Host won the auction on eBay for Nelson's services, other companies copied the marketing strategy, but with temporary tattoos...

See box below for more details and photos...

Indeed, this type of advertising has taken a variety of forms and received a fair amount of publicity in recent years.

foreheADS™ On 3 February 2004, CUNNING (formerly Cunning Stunts Communications) launched foreheADS™, described as "the medium that alleviates student debt whilst bringing a brand's message to the fore". Image Credit: Cunning Cunning Stunts have developed a network of students to display brand logos or straplines on their foreheads. Ads are placed using a temporary transfer. Students/participants must display the ads for a minimum of three hours a day in highly visible locations such as instructed by Cunning, such as student bars, local pubs/bars and high footfall shopping or tourist areas. In return, they will receive approximately twice minimum wage on an hourly rate. TatAD Four entrepreneurs in Vancouver, British Columbia, created TatAD Inkorporated. TatAD matches willing participants with major corporations who may pay selected candidates meeting their demographic and psychographic advertising criteria for specific markets. Their slogan reads: The only place in the WORLD to get a tattoo and get PAID for it! In the first 40 days after the site was launched, 938 people became registered TatAD members; at this writing, membership has reached 1419. The average person sees over 500 different ads every day, from ads on TV to the buses that pass you on the street. Ads that tell you you’re too fat, too skinny, don’t have enough money or need the newest prescription drug to make your life complete. It’s quite easy to notice when you are looking for it, look at yourself when you stand up from your computer. How many ads are you wearing right now? We’ll bet it’s more than 3. Tomorrow, try to notice how many times you mention a car you like, or hair product that really works great, you may even be talking about it to people you’ve never met before! You are already a walking billboard for your favorite companies simply by wearing their clothes or driving their cars or smoking their cigarettes... http://www.tatad.com/about.php		World’s first walking, talking “Human Billboard” captures worldwide attention for C I Host C I Host Press Release via eMediawire (17 April 2003) BEDFORD, TX (April 15, 2003) - Jim Nelson, the world’s first "human billboard," endured more than 4 hours of tattoo artistry on the back of his head and has begun his worldwide assignment to bring C I Host’s message to the masses. [ See photos ] This unique and first-of-its-kind marketing idea has captured worldwide attention within just the first week of the "human billboard’s" launch. Television and radio stations from across the U.S. and Canada as well as Europe have documented the one-of-a-kind advertising message. "It definitely has gotten people’s attention," Nelson said. "I get stopped all the time by people asking me who C I Host is, what they do and why I have their name on the back of my head." ...As part of the 5-year contract with C I Host, Nelson is required to keep the tattoo visible at all times and make daily treks outside his Chicago-area home to promote the company. The contract also requires him to make trips through the continental U.S. and Europe to show off the tattoo and promote the company... Ad tattoos get under some people's skin Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY (04/03/2002 ) "It's frightening that advertisers would literally brand people," says Gary Ruskin, director of consumer watchdog group Commercial Alert. "It's a perfect example of commercialism: that everything should be for sale, including the skin on a person's back." But athletes counter that body billboards are a free-speech issue. Much of the criticism is just sour grapes, says Bridges, 37, former star of Diff'rent Strokes. "It's free enterprise. If somebody had thought of it before Golden Palace, they'd have done it." Ad tattoos also offer almost free exposure. Golden Palace paid only the talent, not Fox, for tattoos seen by 15.5 million U.S. viewers. Web visitors rose 200% in the 24 hours after the March 13 show, and Golden Palace now is recruiting more for its "celebrity body billboard" plan, says spokesman Jeff Bernstein. More than 20 fighters have been paid varying amounts. Hopkins has made about $100,000, while the Celebrity Boxing trio will make "low five figures" apiece, says Bernstein. GoldenPalace Raises Fund for Retired Boxers PRESS RELEASE, GoldenPalace.com Winner®Online.com (10 July 2002) ...The tattoo controversy began in September of 2001, when Golden Palace tattooed their website address GoldenPalace.com on the back of Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins during his title match against Felix Trinidad. The result was the most innovative marketing campaign in years. Golden Palace has since tattooed over 30 fighters, and in doing so has made a lasting impression on the boxing and entertainment industries...
Image Credit: http://www.TatAD.com Source: [pers.comm. 18 April 05] Darren Little, TatAD Marketing Group Ltd. http://www.TatAD.com 1-778-773-2824 TatAD.com Members Start Cashing In Using Skin As Advertising Space TatAD.com announced today that one of their members will be paid $3000 U.S. for a TatAD of the AbsolutePoker.com logo. The TatAD member, who goes by the name SEEKNWSOP, (Seeking World Series of Poker) stated “If I’m not playing in a tournament, a poker night, or in a club, I’m online playing at Absolutepoker.com. It’s like my second home, so being branded with their logo just made sense.” SEEKNWSOP is now the World’s First Human Billboard for a Poker Company and was branded with the logo of AbsolutePoker.com on his right forearm on March 3rd 2005, after registering online at TatAD.com the world’s first body branding community website. Call it a coincidence, or just call it sweet luck, but 3 weeks after getting the logo tattooed on his forearm, SEEKNWSOP emerged as the Poker Champion of Harrah’s Casino in Las Vegas. This is a member that is confident in his poker playing and estimates that he plays 5000 hands of Poker every year and states that one day he will win the World Series of Poker. He added “When I sit down at the poker table and people see AbsolutePoker.com tattooed right on my arm, they know I mean serious business!” TatAD.com is a cutting edge marketing website with a community of members who are willing to promote companies they are fond of by tattooing the company’s logo on their bodies. They are committed to showing or talking about the logo and the company to general or targeted people in order to create word of mouth advertising regarding the company they have been tattooed by.

The confusion of personal boundaries...

A personal boundary is characterized by a psychological process which serves to distinguish "self" in relation to "non-self" or "other". As separation (e.g. I am not that) and inclusion (e.g. I am like that) decisions are made over time, boundaries become established as constructs or frameworks comprised of ideational and emotional content reinforced by memories. The boundary-making process has a dialectic element, meaning that separation and inclusion responses may be logically examined, but much of the boundary dynamic remains unconscious. Boundaries are affirmative in the sense that they serve to stabilize the concept of "self" as a unique identity, and they are often activated in response to a subliminally apprehended threat, resulting in some sort of defensive or introspective action.

We are walking billboards to the extent that we wear the signage of corporations in the business of making profits, sometimes by satisfying needs, sometimes by creating them. The signage we choose to wear may have little conscious significance for us and still be of subliminal relevance with regard to personal boundaries; alternatively, it may represent a statement of individuality and personal identification, reflecting an acceptable narcissistic grandiosity. In either case, the commercial implications do not generally give rise to concern. Then too, participation in a peer group may necessitate or justify certain behaviors which influence our personal boundaries; that seems a fair exchange in most instances, because the benefit of social access and acceptance by the group outweighs the cost of boundary adaptation.

The largest organ of the body, the skin, is also our most basic boundary. Piercings and tattoos serve as reinforcements of that boundary, drawing attention to it. They are symbols of our own choosing, and they signify something of personal relevance. In that sense, they represent an object of personal identification. The concept of "self" is expanded to include the theme of the object. On the other hand, a corporate logo, tattooed on the skin in return for a fee, represents an entity external to and not necessarily representative of the self. Ideas change. If one no longer thinks the same way at some point down the road, if the self-conception that made it reasonable to accept the corporate tattoo is fundamentally different, the tattoo may be experienced as "alien" to the self, perhaps even as self-deprecating. The corporate agency that sponsored the tattooing then may be conceived as a sinister influence.

Body transformations and subjective response...

Image Credit: ORGANIC (Ltd) Designed By: Allanah Currie, MAdGE

Though their Web site does not appear to be active at this writing (21 January 2005), New Zealand Mothers Against Genetic Engineering sparked a great deal of controversy with their October 2003 billboard campaign, showing a woman with four breasts attached to a milking machine. The billboards were designed by former singer Alannah Currie, in protest of plans by AgResearch to use cows as living factories for protein manufacture by genetic modification which, it is argued, may help identify cures for diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Coinciding with a march against genetic modification, the image was scheduled to appear on five billboards in Auckland and two in Wellington during the month of October, when the ban on genetically modified organisms was scheduled to end.
[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=3526385]

...The woman in the photo is Currie's niece Katarina.

"Its not a sexual photo," Currie said. "It's shocking but it's not sexual. It has to be quite controversial and provocative in order to get this debate about ethics going."

She said the image was inspired by Auckland University physicist Dr. Peter Wills, who asked why AgResearch was "going to all this trouble to make designer milk when they could clone a woman for milk"...

Billboards to milk GM debate
Simon Collins, New Zealand Herald (1 October 2003)

What is your reaction to this billboard? Does such a transformation of body image affect your own sense of personal boundary? Does it challenge you in any way? Make you feel threatened by the unknown consequences of genetic modification?