Tattoos-Heroes & Cult of Celebrity

            In Ancient Greek, a hero or heroine was a person or literary character who faced danger and adversity from a position of weakness and displayed courage or self-sacrifice (Wikipedia). Heroes and heroines can take many forms in today’s culture. Some people still idolize imaginary beings as heroes where others idolize real life figures. In the world of tattooing, heroes are the ground breakers or those who have reached celebrity status.

            The popularity of tattooing has grown exponentially in the last two decades and has become socially acceptable to possess ink. With this popularity, rises those ground breakers to a hero type status that can often be confused with being a celebrity. Don Ed Hardy is a famous tattoo artist out of Oakland, California, who in the 1970s set the bar for the new age of tattooing. He has since retired, but his brand and style can be seen in many stores across the world as he has developed his brand into clothing and other wares (“Ed”).

            Along with this rising popularity, the television has given tattooing the forum to express their creativity and popularity. With shows like L.A. Ink, Miami Ink, Tattoo Nightmare, and competition shows like Best Ink and Ink Master being immensely popular, has allowed the artist to become somewhat of celebrities in their own right. Kat VonD is the most famous female artist that has allowed her to have her own shop, have her own television show and start her own makeup line being sold at Sephora stores.

The television shows have also given the hosts a celebrity status boost and a cult following of sorts. Ink Master had allowed Dave Navarro (formerly of Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers) to have a career away from performing music. Chris Nunez has gone from being just a tattoo artist to having his own show and now is a judge on Ink Master on Spike TV. With the acceptance of tattoos gaining popularity, it has allowed people who are entirely covered in ink to have very lucrative careers like Rick Genest. Known as ‘Zombie Boy’, Rick has taken his artistry to a new level and is now an actor and fashion model (“Rick”). Being different shows that anyone can be whatever they desire no matter how they look and how they are marked.

David Beckham- Soccer star, model & entrepreneur

Rick Genest aka-Zombie Boy

Icons

The three icons I chose, are of things that are highly recognizable to me and others. Starbucks represents my present and love of their coffee, Legos because of the many long hours playing and creating during my childhood, and The Statue of Liberty for the beginning my great-grandfather experienced coming to America.

Starbucks

original logo

new logo

I chose Starbucks as my first icon. Starbucks is one of my favorite indulgences. The company started as one shop in Seattle in 1971 and has evolved to become a phenomenon around the world. The mermaid has been their trademark from the beginning, but has had many versions over the years. Not only have they endured expansion of their brand to include K-cups and bottled drinks in the grocery stores, the coffee shops continue to grow as well. Starbucks is also a leader in community involvement, green sustainability, and aid in humanity to farmers and producers in the countries in which they do business. Starbucks is also a leader when it comes to their baristas and workers. They offer their part-time workers with health benefits, higher wages and tuition reimbursement. This is very different from how most corporations operate today. Starbucks is one company who practices corporate responsibility.

Statue of Liberty

The second icon chosen is the Statue of Liberty. The Green Lady represents freedom and a new beginning to millions of people, especially those who arrived through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. “It has been estimated that close to 40 percent of all current U.S. citizens can trace at least one of their ancestors to Ellis Island”. The statue was a gift from France to commemorate the lasting friendship between the two nations. My own great-grandfather came through the processing station at Ellis Island in 1916 from Sweden, so she holds a special place in my heart.

Lego

I remember playing with my Legos for hours on end as a child and also being yelled at by my parents when they would accidentally step on one of the pieces. Lego has been around since 1932 and was started by a Danish man named Ole Kirk Kristiansen. The company has remained in the family the entire time and is now run by Ole’s grandson Kjeld. The word Lego means “leg godt” in Danish and translated means, play well (“Lego”). I still own the Lego’s that my sister and I use to play with which were then handed down to my daughter. I recently asked her if we could give them to my 3 ½-year-old nephew. Her response was, “Absolutely not!” She is almost 24 years old. It just goes to show that you are never too old to play with one of the iconic toys of the century, Lego’s.

Popular Culture

Pop culture is the system of attitudes, behavior patterns, beliefs, customs, and tastes that define the people of any society (Browne, 2005. P.3). Pop culture tends to be what is “in or a fad” at the moment with the middle and lower classes. It tends not to be associated with higher educated or higher earning people. Pop culture can take many forms such as the clothing that is worn, types of movies being produces, music on the radio, toys being manufactured, types of television shows being shown, what sports to like and teams to root for, how to save the earth by going green, and so much more.

In a business it is critical to stay on top of the latest in pop culture or trends. If they fail to monitor the changes of pop culture, they could lose business and potential customers. This is extremely prevalent in the retail business. With the recent development of Facebook, Twitter, apps and social media as a whole, businesses who had failed to embrace the changing culture from the beginning were left behind.

Throughout my life, I have experienced many changes in pop culture which some became very memorable. In the 1970s, it was the wearing of bell-bottoms and listening to American rock music. The 80s brought about the age of excess, along with changes in the music with new wave and the birth of MTV. With the early 1990s, grunge was the rage in the way we dressed along with the music of teenage angst flowing through our portable disc players. The later 90s were full of teenage girl and boy bands such as Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys.

Duran Duran- 80s

The Eagles-70s

Pearl Jam- 90s

Browne, R. (2005). Profiles of popular culture: A reader. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press.