http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117...-13762,00.html

A US mother had the name of a casino permanently tattooed on her forehead after auctioning off advertising space on her head to pay for her son's school fees, she said.
Karolyne Smith, 30, turned her head into a permanent billboard after a large online casino offered her $US10,000 ($13,120) to indelibly emblazon its name on her face.

"I really want to do this," said Smith. "To everyone else, it seems like a stupid thing to do. To me, $US10,000 is like $US1 million.

"I only live once, and I'm doing it for my son. It's a small sacrifice to build a better future for my son," she said in a statement issued by the casino company GoldenPalace.com.

Ms Smith, who said she would put the money towards sending her son Brady to a private school, said she did not take the decision lightly, discussing it for more than three weeks with her boyfriend Jeremy Williams.

The gaming company, which has a history of outrageous advertising stunts, won the full frontal ad in an auction on eBay that drew 27,000 hits and 1000 watchers, it said.

"I think this kind of advertising will become increasingly popular as time goes on," GoldenPalace.com chief executive Richard Rowe said.

"Conventional forms of marketing just don't cut it anymore. To get people's attention, you have to stand out from the crowd," he said.

In addition to meeting Ms Smith's $US10,000 asking price at auction, the gaming firm said it had also given her another $US5000 for her trouble.