When There’s a Sticker in America, There’s Usually a Story Behind It

Sticker excess

Photo by Paulo Mergulhão on Unsplash

The stickers. Can’t seem to get enough of them these days. The photographer of the picture above, Paulo Mergulhão, said this about the shot: “This is the side of a van, completely covered in stickers I saw in New Orleans. I found it interesting and use it when I think about heterogeneity.”

Stickers are statements, just like tote bags, and they come in all shapes and forms. There are mainly four kinds of stickers that I will be talking about in this story (feel free to add any): Bumper stickers, stickers on the fridge, which are really magnets, fun stickers, and city stickers.

When you see these, there’s usually a story behind them, small or big.

Bumper stickers

The bumper sticker was born not too long after cars got bumpers, which was in 1927. Before the bumper sticker, the creation of the sticker as we know it today was created by Ray Stanton Avery, who made the first pressure sensitive labels. Shortly after this, the bumper sticker became a thing. Forrest P. Gill from Kansas City took an adhesive-backed paper and fluorescent paint and combined them to create what was essentially the first-ever bumper sticker. Back then, it went by the name bumper strips.