Playboy Magazine
"Political Currency"
March, 2005
Pg 58
Author: -

View Referenced Art Work

POLITICAL CURRENCY

Looking for a way to get your message across? Money is a flier that no one throws away

In 1998 Johnny Bitter, owner of Johnny Burrito in Charlotte, North Carolina, started setting aside from the register cash that had been defaced with doodles, slogans or rubber-stamp prints. After collecting about 250 bills, he launched uglymoney.com. “It’s a cost-effective way to get your message seen by many people, who, even if they disagree, are almost forced to pass it along,” he says. And he’s right: The U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving says a bill can be folded and unfolded 4,000 times before it’s unusable. A sampling of Bitter’s currency is below, along with a “gay dollar” posted at cruelty.com and a bill stamped by New York City artist David Greg Harth after the 9/11 attacks. It’s illegal to deface bills so they are unfit for use or to place ads on them. That’s what prompted the feds to warn Godoffmoney.com to stop selling rubber stamps with its web address and the words KEEP CHURCH AND STATE SEPARATE.