One smallish yet slightly annoying thing about the jump in popularity of tattoos is that it often seems to me that anything and everything that is capable of having an image stuck to it – be it with adhesives or temporary ink – is bogged down with the tattoo label. It’s a cheap way for different companies to cash in on what they see as a trend that is worth investing in.
Take for example the latest idea to come from the minds of the business men over at Ford. The campaign is called Ford Custom Graphics and it’s basically a layer of 3M Scotchprint Personalised Vehicle Graphic Film that is affixed to Ford vehicles such as the Mustang, the F-150, the Explorer and the Fiesta. The print contains designs that are equated with tattoos, but judging from the images available so far, I’d say that Ford Custom Graphics have nothing to do with tattoos other than the act of affixing an image to a surface. The quality of the art is cheesy and if I saw a person who had a tattoo with similar art, I could only hope that they didn’t pay much for it.
‘The company says that while the one-size-fits-all model isn’t really relevant to today’s consumers, it’s not necessarily a desire to stand out from the crowd. It’s more of a desire not to be lost in the masses, given that people are personalising everything – cell phones, computers and clothing – these days, and it’s no different with automobiles.’
I guess one of the upsides to this entire gimmick is that its cost is half that of custom paint, but with a similar look. This helps people who feel the need to “personalise” their cars with what is essentially Ford flash to not have to dig too deep into their pockets for the luxury. It’s also more easily removed than custom paint, which is a real bonus once a tattooed Ford Fiesta driver realises that people are now laughing at them for more than just driving a Fiesta.
