Domino's Pizza tattoos earn some Russians 'free pizza for life'

There were a lot of variations on the theme

One tattoo. 100 years. 10,000 free pizzas.

That was the deal offered to people in Russia last week when Domino's Pizza in Russia began their "Domino's Forever" campaign on social media offering "free pizza for your whole life".

The catch? To earn their crusts, people had to get a permanent tattoo of the Domino's logo "on a visible spot" of their bodies.

The post says people who get tattoos will be given a certificate offering a maximum of 100 free pizzas, per year, for a century - a possible 10,000 pizzas.

But to get that many free meals you would have to live well beyond the average Russian life expectancy.

• Russia's Putin embraces higher pension age but softens blow

Nevertheless Russian social media was soon awash with hundreds of people looking to take advantage of the deal.

Many of the posts were fairly self-aware, with people considering themselves captive to the offer of free meals.

After hundreds of posts appeared across Instagram, Facebook and Russian-language social media platform VKontakte, Domino's was forced to impose strict rules upon entries.

The pizza chain clarified only "the first 350 people" to post such pictures on social media would receive the free meals, and warned that while the tattoo can be any colour, it must be at least 2cm (0.79 inches) in length.

Furthermore, it released an image clarifying the "visible parts of the body" where people were allowed to have the tattoo.

Despite the change in rules the pictures kept on coming, with people sharing snaps of tattoos on arms, tattoos on legs, and even tattoos on thumbs.

With the entries coming so quickly, Domino's was forced to bring the competition to a halt as they quickly hit their 350-participant threshold.

"Friends, we already have 350 participants!" Domino's wrote on its Facebook page.

"We are not receiving any new tattoos!

"If you are at a tattoo artist's and getting tattoos, we will include you in the list of participants. But we are waiting for pictures before 12:00 today.

"For those [getting tattoos] later, we recommend cancelling the appointment, because unfortunately we will not be able to include you."

You may also like:

• Mourinho 'reaches tax deal' with Spain

• Breastfeeding mum forced to stand on train

• WATCH: 'I saved his life on our first date'

But by this point, the warnings did not stop the tattoos.

On Instagram alone, there have been over 80 additional applications using the campaign hashtag since the promotion officially closed, with more on Facebook and VKontakte.

That may not seem like much, but can you imagine getting this tattoo and not receiving the free pizza?

Fortunately for these late entrants it seems Domino's feels the same way, as the company continued to reply to posts.

Domino's responded to John Adamovsky - who posted his tattoo after Domino's stopped the offer - to let him know that they would contact him privately to arrange his prize.

Was it worth it?

Instagram user Ekaterina Lunina certainly seems to be getting her money's worth, as she has already cashed in on the deal twice, letting her followers know her free pizza certificate is getting used.

And just in case you were wondering what these pizza certificates look like, one couple were kind enough to share a snap of their pizza passes with the BBC.

Domino's say their staff reserve the right to ask to see the tattoo when someone shows their certificate