These anti-Elon bumper stickers are more popular than ever
Plus: In a time of quiet politics, some look to friendship bracelets
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at two emerging symbols popping up in reaction to the election results: a bumper sticker for Tesla owners who now worry about the reputation of the company’s CEO, and a friendship bracelet.
Scroll to the end to see: where Google says it will stop serving political ads 📱
These anti-Elon bumper stickers are more popular than ever
Scattered across Amazon’s best-selling bumper stickers list are bumper stickers for a narrow but growing slice of drivers: regretful Tesla owners.
As Tesla CEO Elon Musk takes on an increasingly partisan and public role in Donald Trump’s forthcoming administration, some Tesla owners are having second thoughts about their choice of EV. Among the “Please be patient, student driver” magnets, “thin blue line” flags, and “45/47” decals on Amazon’s list, the $6.99 “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy” bumper sticker has become its third bestseller. Another variation sits at No. 7 on Amazon’s bestseller list as of this writing.
The Hawaii-based seller of the “I bought this before Elon was crazy” sticker offers additional designs through his MadPufferStickers Etsy shop, including “Anti Elon Tesla Club” and “Elon ate my cat” stickers. He says sales have gone up since the election.
“It took a while for the first sale, but after it got rolling, some people started posting pictures,” Matthew Hiller told Heatmap. “And now, at this point, it’s gone insane.”
Tesla has some of the best-selling EVs, with its Model Y, Model 3, and Cybertruck making up the top-three sellers in the third quarter of 2024, but the company’s CEO has proven highly polarizing. NBC News polling found that negative views of Musk have risen from 21% in 2021 to 45% this September, and opinions have tended to fall along political lines, with Democrats and independents souring on Musk even as his approval among Republicans has gone up.
There’s always a risk in using celebrity spokespeople in marketing, but what if your CEO is a celebrity? In April, Caliber, a market research firm, suggested that Musk hurt Tesla’s reputation and contributed to its shrinking pool of potential buyers. Since then, Musk has become even more public about his views, campaigning for Trump and being named to his newly created government efficiency agency.
It turns out that the cars we drive can associate us with political views, even if that’s not our intention. For example, Ford F-150s are more likely to be driven in Republican-leaning counties, and Toyota Priuses in Democratic-leaning ones. A second Trump term could further polarize views of Musk and, by association, his cars. For drivers who bought their Teslas without regard to the CEO’s views, a bumper sticker may be a quick fix to let fellow drivers know where they stand.
In a time of quiet politics, some look to friendship bracelets
