An intriguing marketing and price display system recycles the discarded paper arms included in these “instant tattoos”. 500 kyat (roughly U$ .60) gets you a pair of tattoo-covered arms. While some consumers may see the main purpose of these wraps as showing off their tattoos, this vendor markets them for their supposed skin protecting qualities (literally, “skin covering gloves”).
Whether it is more valuable to show your toughness through fierce-looking body art, or to keep your skin covered (and therefore lighter-toned and more “attractive” vis a vis local norms of beauty) depends upon the context the potential consumer comes from.
Note also the symbiotic relationship between the purse and tattoo-sleeve vendor and the adjacent fried snack vendor, with the prior using the latter’s cart as a means of illuminating his goods. Potentially mutually beneficial in that the longer the time spent mulling over goods, the more tempting the smells from the barbecue stand may become to the user. The constraints and subtleties of olfactory-based marketing.
Square Inch Anthro / 平方英寸人类学 