A Brief History of Bloodvertising

The tactic dates back decades before Lil Nas X and Tony Hawk made headlines with blood-centric marketing

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If I pour 6 ounces of my own blood into a gas tank, I’m just a weirdo. But if I pour it into a paint can, I’m a…provocateur.

Sure, the effect is equally inconsequential, but there’s something eerily visceral about the idea of blood being infused into art or added into products that someone else might then own.

Blood-based marketing has been a quiet niche in recent years, but it hemorrhaged back into the headlines this year thanks to two celebrities: Lil Nas X and Tony

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