Tattoo ad puts Marius ahead

2005-02-03 23:41

André Gouws

Cape Town - The highest bid has been accepted and, as from Thursday, a Somerset West man was set to become the first South African to have an advertisement tattooed on the back of his head.

Marius Lourens, 29, auctioned the back of his head on the eBay internet site and accepted a bid from an overseas company.

He reopened the auction after he discovered that the highest bid on his first effort was from an unsavoury pornographic website.

He did not want to divulge which company was successful with the winning bid.

It is believed to be a Canadian company marketing a product that will be popular with outdoor and sporting enthusiasts, and also people interested in safety.

An advertisement to market the product has been tattooed on the back of Lourens's head and will be used to sell the product.

He thinks the product will sell like hot cakes.

Has samples of the product

Lourens said that, so far nobody had had a permanent tattoo made on the back of his or her head to advertise something.

The tattoo artist applied his art to the back of Lourens's head in Somerset West on Thursday.

He said he had received samples of the product from Canada beforehand.

He said he was disappointed by the lack of interest from South African companies and that not a single bid had been received locally.

"Some of them said I was too old for them."

And, he has refused to divulge what he is being paid for the use of his head.

- Die Burger