It would appear that now tats are fads and I would agree with that statement.
Yeah, I heard that tattoos were a "fad" too when I got my first one 15 years ago. I wish people would stop saying that. A fad is something that everybody gets all hyped up about for a short while and then it falls out of fashion and goes away. Seasonal clothing trends are fads. But it seems clear that tattoos among mainstream society are here to stay, which means they are not simply a fad. The younger generation sees tattoos as more 'normal' than the older generation does, and they accept tattoos. This mentality will likely stay with them as they age; they're not going to wake up one day and decide tattoos should go back in the proverbial closet.

Sorry if this post is a threadjack, but it's one of those phrases that has annoyed me ever since I first heard it. Just because tattoos have become mainstream does not make them a fad. Certain types of tattoos could be fads, but I honestly don't see the popularity of tattoos waning at all. It's only gotten more popular since I started paying attention 15 years ago when I got my first.