I would have to say that the biggest reason why anyone should never commit to a tattoo without thinking it over first is that there’s always the chance you could regret it in the end. Spur of the moment tattoos are for the most part, a bad idea. You might think they’re cool for the first little while, but most likely at some point in the future, you’re going to regret it altogether. But what if you decide to get a tattoo based on a dare or better yet, on the promise of money? Hey, we all need and want money, right? Well, could you be convinced to get a tattoo after being told you’d receive a lot of money for your troubles? What if the tattoo had to be on your forehead and what if it had to be the logo of a local hard rock radio station?
I don’t doubt it that at this point, the majority of you reading this would say no way. However, I also don’t doubt that there’s a small percentage of you out there who are reading this and thinking: well just how much money are we talking here? And hey, who am I to judge you if you are? At the very least, you’re questioning this in a logical manner. You didn’t just read this and call up your local tattoo studio, completely prepared to have the inking done. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what 48-year-old Jonathan David Winkelman and his stepson Richard Goddard did back in 2000.
After having heard a local radio DJ offer a six-figure cash prize for anyone who had the radio station’s name permanently tattooed on to their foreheads, Winkelman and Goddard headed down to a tattoo shop in their Iowa town and had the station’s logo as well as the words “93 Rock” and “Quad City Rocker” tattooed to their foreheads. The best part is that once they headed over to the radio station’s headquarters, they were told that the entire thing had been a joke and that there would be no cash prize. Surprise!
Winkelman and Goddard both intended to sue over the matter, but Winkelman later dropped his lawsuit, while Goddard’s was thrown out of court when he failed to show for the trial. Hey, if you don’t have the wherewithal to show up for a court case that you wanted in the first place, I guess you deserve what you get. It’s just too bad that what they got were shitty tattoos on their foreheads…