Sorry, Mom, You Are No Longer No. 1 in My Eyes

A few years back I met Johnny Earle, founder of the company Johnny Cupcakes. I had never heard of Johnny Cupcakes at the time, and to be honest, as he described the company it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. The company’s product line consists primarily of t-shirts emblazoned with a skull and crossbones, with the skull replaced by a cupcake.
I figured they must sell about 10 t-shirts a year. How wrong I was. I’m not sure exactly how many t-shirts they do sell, but it is some enormous number. In addition to selling online, they have three swank “bakeries” (i.e. stores) where you can buy the t-shirts.
What really convinced me that Johnny Cupcakes was for real were the tattoos. More than 100 die-hard fans have shown their affection for the brand by getting Johnny Cupcake tattoos. You must be doing something special if you can induce 100 people to permanently emboss your logo on their bodies.
So what does this have to do with my mother? Since the day Freakonomics came out, she has assiduously collected all my press clippings and videotaped every TV appearance. She sings my praises to anyone who will listen. Without a doubt, she has been my No. 1 fan.
I am sorry to say, Mom, that as of today you have been demoted to the rank of No. 2 fan. Our new No. 1 fan is Jennifer Garcia. Jennifer just finished nursing school. She says she is our biggest fan. And unlike my mother, she has gone the extra mile and shown her loyalty in the form of a tattoo…
Yes, there finally is a Freakonomics tattoo, thanks to Jennifer.

In gratitude, we will be sending Jennifer some Freakonomics schwag. Indeed, we will happily send Freakonomics schwag to anyone who sends us a picture of their Freakonomics tattoo. After all, we are still 99 tattoos behind Johnny Cupcakes.