diff --git a/ec2 b/ec2
index 03d1cbc6ffa..cd60e2983ae 100644
--- a/ec2
+++ b/ec2
@@ -95,8 +95,15 @@ options:
     required: False
     default: null
     aliases: []
+  instance_tags:
+    version_added: "1.0"
+    description:
+      - string of tags, in json format, to add to the new instance
+    required: False
+    default: null
+    aliases: []
 examples:
-   - code: "local_action: ec2 keypair=admin instance_type=m1.large image=emi-40603AD1 wait=true group=webserver count=3"
+   - code: "local_action: ec2 keypair=admin instance_type=m1.large image=emi-40603AD1 wait=true group=webserver count=3 instance_tags='{"Name":"My Server"}'"
      description: "Examples from Ansible Playbooks"
 requirements: [ "boto" ]
 author: Seth Vidal, Tim Gerla, Lester Wade
@@ -126,6 +133,7 @@ def main():
             ec2_secret_key = dict(aliases=['EC2_SECRET_KEY']),
             ec2_access_key = dict(aliases=['EC2_ACCESS_KEY']),
             user_data = dict(),
+            instance_tags = dict(),
         )
     )
 
@@ -141,7 +149,8 @@ def main():
     ec2_secret_key = module.params.get('ec2_secret_key')
     ec2_access_key = module.params.get('ec2_access_key')
     user_data = module.params.get('user_data')
-    
+    instance_tags = module.params.get('instance_tags')
+
     # allow eucarc environment variables to be used if ansible vars aren't set
     if not ec2_url and 'EC2_URL' in os.environ:
         ec2_url = os.environ['EC2_URL']
@@ -156,7 +165,7 @@ def main():
         ec2 = boto.connect_ec2(ec2_access_key, ec2_secret_key)
 
     # Both min_count and max_count equal count parameter. This means the launch request is explicit (we want count, or fail) in how many instances we want.
-   
+
     try:
         res = ec2.run_instances(image, key_name = key_name,
                                 min_count = count, max_count = count,
@@ -170,6 +179,12 @@ def main():
 
     instids = [ i.id for i in res.instances ]
 
+    if instance_tags:
+        try:
+            ec2.create_tags(instids, module.from_json(instance_tags))
+        except boto.exception.EC2ResponseError as e:
+            module.fail_json(msg = "%s: %s" % (e.error_code, e.error_message))
+
     res_list = res.connection.get_all_instances(instids)
     this_res = res_list[0]
     if wait: