What Happened To The Car Bumper Sticker?
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Nowadays, although you can still find them on some cars, the bumper sticker is no longer a much touted popular car accessory. Mostly popular in the 70s to the 90s, it seems like the heydays of the bumper stickers have faded, perhaps due to the fact that the traditional, exposed bumper style in cars is no longer around. Today, we’re going to take a look at what happened to the car bumper sticker in these modern times.
Image from: Big Idea Resources
A Bumper Beginning
The first ever car to feature the bumper was the Model A. Invented as a safety feature for cars, a man named Forest P. Gill instead decided to use the bumper as his canvas, deciding that the bumper could be used to advertise promotional products in the late 1940s. The idea took off as a trendy way to display tourist attractions drivers had visited. In 1952, the popular vehicle accessory began to include political messaging in the USA with Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Presidential campaign being one of the more popular bumper stickers to be used.
Image from: Cornell University Library
The Disappearing Bumper
However, as car technology and safety evolved over the years, carmakers realized that the more effective a bumper is at protecting your car against collisions, the less aesthetically pleasing the car design becomes. So, many carmakers began to disguise bumpers with paint jobs, which eventually evolved to using plastic or fiberglass. With the bumper officially gone, the bumper stickers seemed to have no more place to exhibit their messages.
Image from: AutoEvolution
The Unstuck Stickers
While there are hardly any bumper stickers on the roads now, it cannot be denied that their popularity has declined, just like most pop culture items from the 70s and 80s. Now, it’s more common to see window decals decorating cars with branded or funny messages than it is to see a bumper sticker. But who knows? With the millennial generation longing for the things of the past, we may just see the return of the bumper stickers on our roads.
Image from: Pinterest
Do you think the bumper sticker will make a comeback? Leave a comment below!