Tart card

[1] Known as tart cards, they became established in the 1960s in places such as Soho, London, where they were typically handwritten postcards which were displayed outside prostitutes' flats or in the windows of newsagents or shops.

[2] The abolition of the 1953 Post Office Act in 1984 inadvertently legalised the placement of advertisements in telephone boxes, and they became the main location for tart cards, particularly in London.

[5] The style of illustration changed in the early twenty-first century, when tart cards began to appear with full-colour nude photographs, mobile telephone numbers and websites.

They have influenced the work of mainstream artists, inspiring collections, research,[7] exhibitions[8][9] and books such as the 2003 publication Tart Cards: London’s Illicit Advertising Art.

[4] Subsequently, they have been recognised as a sociological record of trends related to sex work, advertising, design and print.