History Main / EmbarrassingTattoo

* Subverted in a ''{{Spider-Man}}'' story, in which Peter Parker's then-current girlfriend Carlie Cooper got drunk and considered getting a Green Goblin tattoo. She ended up getting a Spider-Man tattoo instead. [[spoiler: Although that may now be an embarrassing tattoo, seeing as how Carlie just dumped Peter (as of the end of SpiderIsland) for lying to her about his being Spider-Man!]]

* This short-lived FOX Family cartoon called ''MonsterFarm'' (not to be confused with the anime series ''MonsterRancher'') had an episode where a goat/dragon-type creature (Goatasaurus Rex) resorts to blackmail in order to become leader of the farm. One of the secrets he threatens to reveal is that Dr. Woolly (a sheep mad scientist with a monster alter ego named Mr. Ewwwe) has a "risque tattoo" that can only be seen when he's sheared (this could also apply as a NoodleIncident since it's not known when, where, why, or how Dr. Woolly got the tattoo and a WhatHappenedToTheMouse moment as the tattoo is never mentioned again in the show's short run).

* In a subversion, grade schooler Little Pete in ''TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete'' had a tattoo of a lounging Spanish woman that he called "Petunia" and was later revealed to have another of a sailing ship. The person that was embarrassed was not Pete, but his mother, because her youngest son had the tattoos, and she made him cover them with long clothing up no matter what time of year it was.

* In ''TalesOfMU'' Mackenzie lets Amaranth write "Nymph's Toy" on her forehead in magical marker (like permanent marker, apparently, except that you ''can't wash it off'' or get rid of it by anything but magic (or, presumably, self-mutilation). Naturally, this happens ''right'' before they head out to the college town for the first time; Mackenzie very quickly goes from acting naturally about it (because she forgot it was there) to being mortified once she realizes ''why'' everyone is staring at her.

* In 2009 a Belgian girl tattooed 56 stars on her face. After her parents became angry she claimed that she had fallen asleep during the procedure. She became the laughing stock of the entire nation and fell into a serious depression.

* WeirdAlYankovic has a song called "Another Tattoo" (parody of B.o.B. and BrunoMars's "Nothin' on You") about this:

* HaydenPanettiere has "To live without regrets" tattooed on her left side in Italian, and much fun was had at her expense when it was pointed out it was misspelled... although the fact that she hasn't bothered to have it removed (and has even posed topless while showing it - no link provided here) suggests she goes by the message rather than the spelling. Which is pretty [[MomentOfAwesome awesome, really.]]
* You know those cute abstract-pattern tattoos some girls like to have just above their buttocks? They're really not embarrassing at all, and rather popular. Except that at some point, bayuvarian comedian MichaelMittermeier came up with the EmbarrassingNickname "Arschgeweih" (ass antlers) for that phenomenon. Stupid jokes about screwing a deer included with the pack. Well... Let's just say that the popularity of that specific form of tattoo has dwindled in the German-speaking universe recently...

* In ''AmericanHistoryX'', Derek Vinyard (EdwardNorton) has a large swastika tattoo on his chest, which becomes shameful to him after he renounces his racist ideology. In a particularely poignant scene he just finishes taking a shower, and then looks at himself in the mirror while covering up the tattoo, realizing that he will likely carry that symbol of hate with him for the rest of his life. The poster to the film also features Norton trying to cover the tattoo with his hand.

* Tattoos being ''considerably'' more mainstream than they were in the past.

A TattooedCrook may face this situation after going straight. This variation is far more likely to be PlayedForDrama.

* ''HappyEndings'' had Dave and Alex, after their break up, decide to remove the tattoos of each others' names since it made dating awkward. They couldn't go through with the painful procedure.

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'' has undoubtedly one of the most embarrassing tattoos - after breaking up with his fiance Angela, Hodgins is horrified to find [[PapaWolf her father]][[hottip:*:Billy Gibbons from ZZTop. Not played by Billy Gibbons, he IS Billy Gibbons.]] in town. Angela convinces her father to call it off - and then Hodgins wakes up in the middle of the desert, drugged, with Angela's face tattooed on his arm in scary perfection, with "Angela Forever" written at the bottom. Naturally, Angela is horrified ("You're ''sweating'' on me!")

* Carver, younger brother of the ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' PlayerCharacter, has a tattoo of a warhound which he got when he was in the army. He claims he can make it ''bark''.

A comedy trope that is definitely TruthInTelevision is when a character will have a tattoo (sometimes in an embarrassing location) with various unsavory features, such as being misspelled, the name of a former love interest, written in a language the wearer does not understand and [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels not meaning what he thinks]] (Chinese characters are good for this), etcetera, [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy sometimes the result of a drunken whim]]. However, this can also be used seriously as a version of GoodScarsEvilScars where the tattoo is a representation of sin.

This is slowly becoming a DiscreditedTrope, due to three main reasons:

* Tattoos being ''considerably'' more mainstream than they were in the past

* In ''Uncanny ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'', following Kitty Pryde's HeroicSacrifice, Colossus, mourning the woman he loved, got a tattoo of a heart with the name "Katya" (in the [[TheBackwardsR Cyrillic alphabet]]) on his chest. Recently, she got better (but is still out of the action due to uncontrollable powers), so there has been some speculation regarding Kitty's inevitable reaction when she sees Colossus' ink.

* Sally in {{Disney}} / {{Pixar}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' gets embarrassed when [=McQueen=] notices the marking on her rear end. It should be noted at this point, if you didn't know, that Sally (and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin every other character in the film]]) is a car.
** So, in other words, she's got a [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=california+license+plate California license plate]]? *drum roll*
*** Knowing Pixar, thats probably ''exactly'' [[ParentalBonus the joke they were going for.]]

* Corporal Nobbs' tattoo in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' says "WUM". The tattooist didn't notice Nobby was upside-down because he was drunk as well. It's not a proper tattoo if ''anyone'' can remember how it got there.

** In the ''Liveship Traders'' trilogy, Captain Kennit has a habit of tattooing symbols of his mistakes on his body, and then ''branding them off'' soon after. Plus, a tattoo on the face is the mark of one's slavery, so prety much all tattoos are embarassing in this universe.

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'' has undoubtedly one of the most embarrassing tattoos - after breaking up with his fiance Angela, Hodgins is horrified to find [[PapaWolf her father]][[hottip:*:It should also be noted that her father is Billy Gibbons from ZZTop. Not played by Billy Gibbons. He IS Billy Gibbons.]] in town. Angela convinces her father to call it off - and then Hodgins wakes up in the middle of the desert, drugged, with Angela's face tattooed on his arm in scary perfection, with "Angela Forever" written at the bottom. Naturally, Angela is horrified ("You're ''sweating'' on me!")

* Dr Kelso in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' has "Johnny" tattooed on his buttock (While Johnny has "Bobby" tatooed on his). "He's an old [[HelloSailor sailor buddy, and if you went through what we did]], you'd understand."

* In ''GroundedForLife'' Lily has a tattoo of a golden sprite on her lower back, with a banner reading "Dean", only discovered by her new boyfriend, Brad until months into their relationship. He gets over it, as Lily says that the tattoo means less than what she does, and it serves as a reminder that in the end, she chonse Brad over Dean... though the fact that the money Brad offered for getting it removed were meant to buy her an iPod, and once she heard about that, changed her mind about the removal.
* In ''Big Bad {{Beetleborgs}}'', in order to get the kids to go along with a ZanyScheme, Flabber offers to show them his tattoo. When the kids retort that they've seen tattoos before, he admits that this one is one his ''spleen''. That seals the deal.

* WeirdAlYankovic has a song called "Another Tattoo" (parody of B.o.B. and BrunoMars' "Nothin' on You") about this:

** Pierce has a tatto that he says is the Chinese symbol for 'integrity'. Jeremy informs him that its Cyrillic Russian and says "10c Deposit VT NH MA".

* A simple [[http://images.google.com/images?q=bad+tattoos&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=rkowSsC6AZGgMp-ltf8J&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title google search for "bad tattoos"]] unearths all kinds of hilarity.

---> '''Faith:''' When did ''you'' get ink?
---> '''Giles:''' Faith, do you honestly think you're the first person to have stumbled upon the notion of rebellion? Do you think you were the first who ever let an innocent person get hurt because of your own stupidity? [[NotSoDifferent You and I aren't so unalike.]] But those of us who refused to pay the piper during our adolescence have a responsibility to shoulder the most unpleasant costs of adulthood.

* In ''AufWiedersehenPet'', Neville, who is the nicest of the characters and happily married to Brenda, wakes up after a night of drinking to find "Neville Loves Lottie" tattooed on his arm. He doesn't even ''know'' anyone called Lottie.

* The end result is never seen, but one ''WhitestKidsUKnow'' sketch shows an inebriated character in the process of coming up with one of these. The end result is: [[SuperMarioBrothers Bowser]] wearing shades, wailing on a double-necked guitar, on a surfboard, in front of a huge pot leaf, in front of a cross, with "Happy Birthday Rick" written above it.

* {{Offspring}}'s "Pretty Fly For A White Guy":

* A common trick of "Scambaiters", people who try to get FourOneNineScam emails and pretend to believe the email to distract the scammer, is to claim that sending money to people outside of their faith [[AgainstMyReligion Against Their Religion]] and that they must join their faith in order to get the money. In these cases, part of joining the religion will almost always involve getting a tattoo (With photos of the procedures to make sure it isn't a fake).

* ''TheChasersWarOnEverything'': Chas attempts to make one side of his body look like Daniel Craig (ItmakesSenseInContext) and gets a tattoo of a 'Japanese character' on his upper arm. He ends up with a tattoo of HelloKitty.