What's your name again? Ginsberg shows off his signature nametag and tattoo. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
So how do you explain a name tag tattoo? Ginsberg says his answer has never changed.
Ginsberg describes the reactions he typically receives.
A tool for personability? Ginsberg describes his name tag.

Scott Ginsberg has found that place where everybody knows his name. And it is everywhere.

The 25-year-old St. Louis man has, for more than five years, worn a standard-issue, red-bordered name tag above his heart, everywhere he went, no matter what he was doing. Last year, to ensure he'd never find himself without his tag -- whether for shower or pool or bedroom debauchery -- he had it tattooed on his chest.

Ginsberg's stunt began Nov. 2, 2000, while a junior majoring in marketing at Miami University in Ohio. He went to a campus function at which name tags were handed out and when it was over, he decided to see what would happen if he kept his on.

"I was amazed that complete strangers would say hello," he said. "there was a sense of approachability I never felt before."

He hasn't gone without a name tag since and he's managed to build a gimmick into a career, writing two self-published books and lecturing on approachability to groups around the country. asap reached out to Ginsberg to find out what he was thinking.

So, what was he thinking?

Ginsberg said he was hooked from the start on the way people reacted to him wearing something everyone else seems to rip off the moment their meeting or conference is over. "I probably met 20 people in that first night and that first day," he said. "I made a pact that I would wear a name tag 24-7 for the rest of my life."

Has it worked?

Well, Ginsberg has met thousands of people he may not have if he wasn't wearing a name tag. And he says he's now able to command speaking fees of $3,500 to $6,500 for a standard appearance. But his exploits haven't made him a rich man -- he's living and working out of a rented St. Louis home he shares with two roommates.

He couldn't have worn a name tag all the time, could he?

Almost. Until the tattoo, showers were out. But even when someone rips his name tag off (not infrequently) he's armed with more. Ginsberg wears one on each layer of his clothing and keeps about 10 extras in his wallet. He vows to be buried wearing a name tag.

There must be drawbacks though, right?

Ginsberg says he's made fun of about 3.5 times a day. He's been shoved and had to run off once to avoid a fight. And, he says, he even had a stalker. "It sacrificed my anonymity," he said.

What about his clothes?

"It always clashes and always ruins my clothes," Ginsberg says.

But does it help him score chicks?

He won't say. And is there a Nametag Gal for Ginsberg? He won't say about that either.

The whole idea sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it?

Sure does, for "Seinfeld" fans, at least. In "The Non-Fat Yogurt," an episode that originally aired Nov. 4, 1993, Elaine suggests to a staffer of then-New York Mayor David Dinkins, that everyone in the city wear name tags. Dinkins ultimately loses to Rudy Giuliani.

Ginsberg has seen the episode but says it had nothing to do with his own pursuit.

___

asap contributor Matt Sedensky is an Associated Press writer in Kansas City, Mo.

___

Want to comment? Sound off at soundoffasap@ap.org .

©2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.