Legal action is sometimes taken against their use. Illustrated tart cards from the 1980s and 1990s have come to be regarded as examples of sub-cultural accidental art.
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" Tart cards" in phone boxes advertise the services of call girls in London (an illegal, but common, practice).Caroline Archer, Tart Cards: Londons Illicit Advertising Art (Mark Batty Publisher, 2003). A doorway advertising "Models" in Brewer Street, Soho, London, an example of a Soho walk-up. In Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), the act of engaging in sex as part of an exchange of sexual services for money is legal, but a number of related activities, including soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, pimping and pandering, are crimes.
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In larger cities, the cards were placed in phone boxes. 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. The cards from the 1980s and 1990s have become a memorable part of London counter-culture from that era. Over time they have become regarded as items of "accidental art" and developed a cult following. They have influenced the work of mainstream artists, inspiring collections, research, exhibitions and books such as the 2003 publication Tart Cards: London’s Illicit Advertising Art.
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Advertising for the services of prostitutes has traditionally been expressed in euphemistic language, partly as an attempt to avoid prosecution and partly as an expression of British cultural values. Prostitutes have advertised in specialist contact magazines for decades despite a common law offence of "conspiracy to corrupt public morals" which was created in 1962 to prohibit such advertising. Adverts for prostitutes have also been placed in public telephone boxes (where they are known as tart cards) despite the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 making such advertising an offence. Newspaper advertising has been used since advertising in newspapers is not in itself illegal.
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The cards originated in the 1960s in places such as Soho, London, as handwritten postcards outside prostitutes' flats or in the windows of newsagents or shops. As direct references to prostitution would generally be unacceptable, the cards were carefully worded and often contained euphemistic references to sex, with terms such as large chest for sale. By the late 1980s tart cards had become black-and-white photocopied cards containing printed text and telephone numbers. The cards from the 1980s and 1990s often included black-and-white drawings printed on neon-coloured card along with tongue-in-cheek phrases.
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Prior to about the year 2000, most off-street prostitution was advertised in the small ads in the printed press or locally on cards in newsagents or shop windows. As direct references to prostitution would not be acceptable, the ads were carefully worded with terms such as large chest for sale.Villains' Paradise: Britain's Underworld from the Spivs to the Krays Donald Thomas In larger cities, tart cards were placed in phone boxes. By the year 2000, the Internet, and access to it had grown large enough for some in the sex industry to see it as a marketing tool.
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Tart cards in a British phone box advertising the services of call girls Escort services may be distinguished from prostitution or other forms of prostitution in that sexual activities are often not explicitly advertised as necessarily included in these services; rather, payment is often noted as being for an escort's time and companionship only, although there is often an implicit assumption that sexual activities are expected. In escort prostitution, the act takes place at the customer's residence or hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the escort's residence or in a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort (called in-call). The prostitute may be independent or working under the auspices of an escort agency. Services may be advertised over the Internet, in regional publications, or in local telephone listings.
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