Monday, July 27, 2020 – Bumper Stickers

I walk by a couple of cars with different bumper stickers: “I’m ashamed of what I did for a Klondike bar” and “Life sucks the jelly right out of your donut.” The Klondike bar bumper sticker plays off the catchphrase “What would you do for a Klondike bar?” in nationwide ads.

History

According to Wikipedia, before bumper stickers, advertisers used other methods of displaying their wares. In the horse-drawn carriage era, advertisers printed on horsefly nets with the name of a business. In the 1930s and 1940s, bumper signs were printed on metal or cardboard and wired to the chrome bumpers. Lester Dill, promoter of Meramec Caverns in Missouri, was an ardent adopter of the bumper sign to attract motorists to his site. Using a windowshield decal was another option. These paper strips could be wetted and placed inside a car window. However, these strips did not hold up well when placed on a bumper.

According to Andrew Sheldon’s May 6, 2020 article “The Unique History of Bumper Stickers” in Your AAA Daily, almost all early cars lacked bumpers. The safety feature wasn’t widely adopted until 1927, when Ford released the Model A. Drivers decorated their bumpers with homemade signs. But these were usually made of cardboard or metal and attached using wire. Needless to say, they didn’t last very long.

According to Wikipedia, various factors contributed to the development of the bumper sticker. Developments in material manufacturing during World War II led to the widespread use of daylight fluorescent inks, which were created by Bob Switzer and his brother Joe. These inks appeared to glow during the daytime and were useful to support various wartime activities; they were favored by early bumper sticker manufacturers after the war. In addition, the first commercially produced pressure-sensitive stickers appeared after World War II; new developments in adhesive materials led to the production of paper strips with adhesive on the back. In addition, the rise of consumer use of vinyl after World War II led to the eventual use of this material in bumper stickers.

Many experts credit Forest P. Gill, a silkscreen printer from Kansas City, Kansas, as the developer of the bumper sticker. Gill recognized that the self-adhesive paper used during the World War II could be used to advertise promotional products in the late 1940s and beyond. According to Andrew Sheldon’s May 6, 2020 article “The Unique History of Bumper Stickers” in Your AAA Daily, Gill’s first large volume request was 25,000 bumper stickers for Marine Gardens in Clearwater, Florida. Gill Studios, the company Gill founded, is still around today and still selling bumper stickers.

According to Wikipedia, early widespread uses of the advertising bumper sticker were for tourist attractions, such as Marine Gardens, Florida, Seven Falls, Colorado, Meramec Caverns in Missouri, and Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. Another popular advertisement was the “See Rock City” sticker. In the 1940s and 1950s, visitors to the site had a sticker applied to their car, which duplicated the famous signs painted on the roofs of barns throughout the southeastern USA. Tourist attraction staff would circulate through the parking lot, applying the promotional sticker to every car.

The first documented presidential election that used adhesive bumper stickers in political campaigns was the 1952 election between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson II. Bumper stickers allowed citizens to show support for a candidate, while still maintaining some anonymity.

Bumper stickers have sparked legal issues between people and states. A man with a bumper sticker containing indecent wording was convicted. The man's conviction was reversed in Cunningham v. State in 1991. The court referenced the First Amendment, stating “the provision regulating profane words on bumper stickers reaches a substantial amount of constitutionally protected speech and unconstitutionally restricts freedom of expression.”

According to Andrew Sheldon’s May 6, 2020 article “The Unique History of Bumper Stickers” in Your AAA Daily, as innocent as bumper stickers can be, they have not been without their fair share of controversy. In fact, in 1991, they were the topic of a legal case that reached the Georgia Supreme Court.

In Cunningham v. the State, a Georgia resident had been caught having a bumper sticker on his car that contained an expletive. It is depicted above without the asterisk. He was charged with violating a state law that prohibited car owners from attaching “any sticker, decal, emblem, or other device containing profane or lewd words.” The owner argued this law was unconstitutional. The court agreed, stating that the law violated the First and 14th Amendments. Thus, the humble bumper sticker became protected by freedom of speech.

Bumper stickers today

Bumper stickers have evolved over the years to include decals and placards. The most famous of the latter is the “Baby on Board” sign. Interestingly enough, the ubiquitous sign was developed and sold by a man without children.

In 1984, Massachusetts businessman Michael Lerner was asked by a friend for advice on how to market the signs. Lerner wasn’t a father, but he had recently endured a harrowing experience driving his young nephew. “People were tailgating me and cutting me off,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “For the first time, I felt like a parent feels when they have a kid in the car.”

Lerner tweaked the design, creating the now-famous black-and-yellow diamond sign. “Baby on Board” was an immediate hit. Less than a year after hitting the market, Lerner had sold 3 million signs.

“Baby on Board” isn’t the only popular sign or sticker to last the test of time. Others are religious (the ichthys and “Coexist”), familial (“My Child is an Honor Student” and the stick figure family) and safety related (“Slow Down, Move Over” and “School’s Open – Drive Carefully.”)

A 2008 study by Colorado State University found that car owners with bumper stickers or window decals tend to be more aggressive drivers. Researchers also discovered the message of the sticker was irrelevant. A driver with a “Peace and Love” sticker was as likely to be an aggressive driver than one with a more hostile sticker.

According to the March 1, 2018 article “Bumper Sticker History – Fun Facts” in MaverickLabel.com, here are some fun facts:

· Removable or magnetic vinyl makes stickers that are easy to remove without damage. You may be able to remove others with a razor blade — for those with steady hands, heat — hair dryer or heat gun or penetrating oil. The many rumored uses of WD-40 include the removal of truly stuck stickers.

· Bumper stickers are collectable, but not high value — $10-$15 for rare ones.

· The Guinness Book of World Records lists the largest individual collection of bumper

stickers at 4,131 by Bill Heermann of Lincoln, Nebraska. He started his collection in 1984 when he was in the eighth grade. He was on his way to Eagle Scouts when he was handed a number of stickers from passers-by. He was hooked on collecting from that point forward.

· If you decide to collect them, keep your vinyl stickers separate from others (they’ll stick — even with liners in place), flat and away from paper- or silver-based photographs. Vinyl can emit gases that may damage these.

According to Šarūnė Bar’s article “96 Funny Bumper Stickers That Will Make You Look Twice” in Bored Panda, below are some examples of funny bumper stickers.

1. Bumper Sticker for Adults