There was a fraternity on our campus which branded all of its members with a Sigma - the brother would wear a t-shirt, and the Sigma was from the bottom of the t-shirt to his elbow.
Until you've seen a keloid - which branding often causes, you have no idea how disgusting they can be. Darker pigmented people of all races are more likely to develop them, but the tendency towards them is also inherited. This isn't a bad one (from getting a pierced ear):
Why anyone would do this
purposely to oneself is beyond anything I can consider intelligent.