When people talk of brand loyalty, are you ready to pledge your allegiance with an indelible tattoo? While most people would think twice about a branded tattoo, others aren’t so picky. Here are four people — celebrities and nobodies alike — who inked a trademarked logo onto their skin.
- The Avengers Cast
When they aren’t busy saving the world, the Avengers are in the tattoo parlour, getting some serious ink. The original Avengers cast, which includes Robert Downy Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, and Chris Hemsworth, got matching custom-designed Avengers tattoos to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the MCU and the friendships they formed filming together. The only actor missing was Mark Ruffalo—who chickened out at the last second according to Renner in his interview with Jimmy Fallon.
The tattoo is a stylized “A” for Avengers, but fans on Reddit have conspiracy theories believing it to be a composite of designs representing each character. Two Reddit users provided two separate illustrations showing symbols of Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Captain America embedded in the main logo. Whether they convince youdoesn’t matter: it’s a pretty cool tattoo for a copyrighted and trademarked logo.
- Frankie Ippolito
Known by his Twitter handle, @FrankieIpp, Frankie Ippolito bears the tattoo of skin designer dbrand’s logo, and it’s all because of a dare. In May of 2018, he tweeted at the made-to-measure skin designer saying he would post a video of him getting a tattoo of their logo if his post could get more than 5,000 retweets — “no bamboozle”. The relatively obscure Twitter user—who at the time of this article only has 304 followers — didn’t think much would come of his tweet. Claiming it was just something he did on a whim, he never imagined dbrand would see it — let alone care.
In the end, both dbrand and popular YouTube personality, Phillip DeFranco, retweeted it, pushing it over the necessary 5,000 tweets. As a man of his word, Frankie got the tattoo, and the skin provider met him in his hometown of Crystal River, Florida to help him record the event. You can watch the full video here.
Though unlikely to start the trend of real human dbrand skins tattooed indelibly on a body part, Frankie considershis new ink positively. He sees it as just another story or interesting moment that will set him apart from everyone else in Crystal River. Luckily for the rest of us who don’t want to be a walking billboard, there’ll always be a personalized iPhone skin waiting for us instead.
- JonBoy’s Nike Swoop
While some tattoos fade into obscurity under several layers of clothes, others rise to fame. Kendall Jenner’s finger tattoo is one of them. Justin Bieber’s tiny cross next to his eye is another.Bella Hadid’s rose tattoo is one more. Their notoriety is due partly because the owners are celebrities and partly because the tattooist is a celebrity himself. Jonathan Valena goes by JonBoy when he’s the tattooist of the stars, and he’s made a name for himself creating tiny, intricate, and minimalist tattoos.
When he isn’t inking celebrities with small, easily covered up designs, he’s helping to brand his favourite sneaker company on customers. In a partnership with Nike, JonBoy tattooed the legendary swoosh and other Air Max-themed ink for an entire week to support the company’s new sneaker. This isn’t the first time the 17-year-old tattoo artist has teamed up with a sneaker line. During 2017’s New York Fashion Week, he partnered with Koio Collective by setting up a pop-up tattoo studio in their Soho location.
- Miley Cyrus
With more than 40 designs inked on her body, singer-songwriter, former Disney star, and twerking maniac, Miley Cyrus, is no stranger to tattoos. The latest addition to her collection came in the summer of 2016 when Miley tattooed a pot of Vegemite on her arm. It appears to be an homage to her boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth, who hails from Australia, where Vegemite is the national spread.
Though it may be one of Liam’s favourite snacks, Vegemite isn’t for everyone. The divisive spread is made from leftover brewers’ yeast, vegetables, and spices. Together, they make a uniquely tangy brown paste spread on toast and sandwiches — and, apparently, a unique tattoo.
Though Vegemite or a Nike swoosh may not resonate with you, they do for those die-hard fans of these brands. To them, they’re meaningful expressions of their relationship with these products. At least—that’s what you can hope. If not, there’s always laser tattoo removal readily available. Call us sentimental but we think the tattoos in this list will last.