Over five million individual barcodes are now in use across the world, according to a UK regulator.

Today, Sunday 7 October, is the 60th birthday of the barcode patent. They may have been filed in 1952, but they did not appear in shops until 1974 in America, because the laser technology that we use to read them did not exist before. According to the same regulator, the QR (Quick Response) code was not  threat to the linear barcode. A QR code is an image of dots which contains more data then a barcode, and is used to take scans to an extended multi-media environment, while the barcode is mainly for scanning for sales.

The first item to be scanned by a barcode, was oddly a packet of chewing gum, in an Ohio supermarket. Not all companies welcomed the barcode though, with some wine manufacturers refusing to use them due to aesthetic reasons.

Barcodes now have been taken to new levels, with them doubling up as body art for certain people, such as US singer Pink. Barcodes are now seen as a universal icon.

Do you find the barcode to be useful? Is body art using them slightly ridiculous? Share your views by clicking “Read More & Comment”.

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