The advent of the bumper stickers is a direct result from the creation of a car by henry Ford in 1927 when he added bumpers to his vehicle range due to customers having accidents. These bumpers combined with the American way of life created a ready means for advertising. The initial crude cardboard stickers looked more like number plates and time and technology changed them into the current format.
The next step in the development of bumper stickers was to treat them in a way that the elements and sometimes harsh weather conditions didn’t destroy the bumper sticker in a very short period of time and with the sticky back paper available the modern day bumper sticker was born. This enabled better and more cost effective printing methods and the business world saw the untapped market waiting where everybody could see. The cost of advertising was also a main factor for using this means. Tourist destinations were some of the first to use this new means of advertising and either sold or presented visitors with a bumper sticker displaying an image of their site. Pretty soon this proved to be a huge success and towns throughout the world did the same thing promoting their town as a tourist spot. These bumper stickers became highly sought after collector’s pieces.
Industry has been watching these developments and immediately saw a great audience being exposed to their advertising or marketing campaign at a very low cost, probably the cheapest method of advertising in the world. The variety on offer is endless and just about any product or campaign that needs publicity or huge exposure is using this avenue to advertise. More recently in the USA there has been a trend to match car owners willing to display specific bumper stickers of companies willing to pay for the privilege.
The effectiveness of bumper stickers are further evident in recent political campaigns especially in the USA to promote the two conflicting political parties and their candidates for office. The list of possibilities using this effective advertising medium is huge and offer a lot of potential for creativity.