Mark of the Beast 

Some selling themselves on bar code tattoos

Could the oversaturation of advertisement on clothing have something in common with Universal Product Code body art? It does, says Chris Bailey who works at Artistic Tattoo in Phoenix. "There's some statement being made, but I'm not sure what it is," he says. "It's probably an anti-establishment-ironic type of thing."

"It's a joke," says Debbie Ullman, art director for the magazine International Tattoo. "People with bar code tattoos are just making fun of that whole 'Big Brother' thing. You know, people are just a number, and all that nonsense."

"I first saw a bar code tattoo in the movie 187," says Barrett Russell of Saskatchewan, Canada, who got his tattoo when he was 16. "It immediately made sense to me. The movie's message was about self-worth and the bar code enables individuals to mock the system and the screwed-up government."

"It's a weird thing putting a number on yourself," Ms. Ullman says. "And people don't care what type of number. They'll swipe a bar code from a cereal box, a can of Pepsi, whatever."

"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD." (Leviticus 19:28 Author's Version 1611 AV)

UPC code pop tattoo of future?

Currently, the most popular icon of bar code tattooing has to be Max, TV's Dark Angel. She's the star of Fox's Tuesday night lineup and sports a Universal Product Code (UPC) on the back of her neck. Fans of the show know that this mark identifies her as a genetically enhanced human, not a slab of meat from the butcher.

There have been at least two movies recently that featured the bar code as commentary on social order. Both 12 Monkeys and 187 have inspired disenfranchised youth to burn a UPC on their bodies.

Possibly the most disturbing harbinger of the bar code future can be seen on TV every night of the week. Now that The Simpsons is in syndication, the entire world sees baby Maggie get scanned at the grocery store during the cartoon's opening credits.
-- ARIZONA REPUBLIC

13:16_ And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 13:17_ And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 13:18_ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred three score and six. (Revelation 13:16-18 Author's Version 1611 AV)

14:9_ And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 14:10_ The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 14:11_ And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:9-11 Author's Version 1611 AV)