Mister Cartoon and DoorDash Want to Help Cover Up Your Name Tattoo

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. This is the time of year when people scramble to make enormous romantic gestures, like getting a person’s name tattooed on their neck, for example. Not all love last forever, and often people end up walking around with a permanent reminder of the one that got away. 

DoorDash has teamed up with Mister Cartoon (aka Mark Machado) to help three lucky people cover up their failed romances with a love that will last forever—tacos. Or a burger, hot dog, piece of sushi or other design drawn up by the black-and-grey legend. 

“Breaking bread and getting tattooed is part of the culture in my studio, people love to get different types of artwork inked on them from food-themed and beyond,” Machado explains. “My collaboration with DoorDash is a creative and cool way to help people move on from their pasts. For someone who got a relationship inked on them, they now have a chance to cover it with an iconic food tattoo that’s more meaningful and stands the test of time.” 

Machado has had quite the lengthy tattoo career, and like many tattooers, he’s seen his fair share of bad decisions from clients. “I stopped counting after I did 100 cover-ups,” Machado says. “I have been tattooing for 25 years, so the number of tattoos I have done must be up there. I feel like I am rescuing future relationships by getting rid of the wreckage of the past. I like to help someone out by getting rid of their own mistakes.”

In a survey conducted by DoorDash, they found that over 63% of people have a tattoo related to a former flame and that more than 25% of those would like to get it covered up or removed. You can be part flown out to LA to have your tattoo covered up by Mister Cartoon by sharing a pic of the offending ink on Instagram or Twitter with the #FoodIsForever and tagging @DoorDash. 

If you aren’t one of the three lucky folks chosen to visit Mister Cartoon you can still win something delicious. Post a picture of a food tattoo that you have on Twitter with the #FoodIsForever between 2/7 and 2/14 and you can win a $25 credit from DoorDash.

Name tattoos are just never a great idea, especially when you’re in a relationship. We often think about how these tattoos can be a bad idea years later, but sometimes it only takes a matter of hours before regret sets in. 

“I tattooed one of my friends back in 2016 with his girlfriend’s name,” Machado says. “He left the studio happy and excited to show his girl, but when he got home his girlfriend did not share the same excitement. She freaked out about it. 

“He called me later that night asking me to cover it up,” Machado continues. “I told him it had to heal for three weeks until I could go back in and cover it. I told him in those three weeks he should try and work on making the relationship work instead of obsessing about the ink. He ended up coming back and no longer has her name there on his arm. Now he has a beautiful skull tattoo and he is no longer with that girl.” 

Let stories like that one be your guide, name tattoos can be tricky. Now is the time to share your tattoo with #FoodIsForever and maybe, just maybe, you’ll have a pretty sick taco tattoo covering up the name of the person who broke your heart.