Driving Political Opinion

A study published in 1992 by Charles Case in the Journal of Popular Culture, that calls the bumper sticker “a ubiquitous part of modern mobile American society,” observed that everyone sees “tens of thousands” of these messages annually. With a research team, Case set out to assess what the predominant messages are that people adhere to their cars.

Looking at cars in Riverside, California, the researchers found that 39 percent of the 2,160 cars they observed displayed one or more messages. The most common form was a window decal followed by a personal or “vanity” license plate. The classic bumper sticker came in third. Other forms of personalized car communication included personalized license plate frames and “silly yellow signs” among other things.

The signs were grouped into six categories: ideological/political expression/public service expression, philosophical expressions, commercial products, self-identity expressions, and other. The three leading categories were self-identity stickers (which included group, institutional/sports and school affiliation stickers), commercial stickers (such as radio station bumper stickers), and “other” (such as Garfield and other characters). The category of Ideological/Political bumper stickers ranked fifth.

A study by Drs. Kelli Lammie and Lee Humphreys about how people express their political and social views in a consumerist society had some similar findings. While doctoral candidates at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Lammie and Humphreys were interested in studying how people express political and social views in our consumer society, and how the bumper sticker is part of that expression. They looked at the types of vehicles that sport bumper stickers, where bumper stickers are predominately placed on cars, and what people think about the bumper stickers they see on cars of other motorists.

Looking at almost 1000 cars in and around Philadelphia and on the New Jersey turnpike in the fall of 2003, the study found that 20 percent of all vehicles had one or more stickers. Ranked on a three point scale of good, moderate and old, the researchers judged that 35 percent of the cars studied were in good condition, 27 percent were in moderate condition, and 36 percent were old or in poor condition. The older the car, the more stickers it typically had, and this finding was statistically significant (p< .001). The most popular category or type of sticker was patriotic or pro-USA sticker. Lammie and Humprheys noted that their study was done post-9/11, a time when patriotic feelings were high because of the attacks on America in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

They also found that “affiliation” stickers, such as ones alma mater or the triple-A sticker of the American Automobile Association, were highly common. Philosophical, religious, and advertising stickers were also frequently seen. Bumper stickers for presidential candidates represented only .05 percent of all the stickers they observed. The researchers quoted a man who was with the Howard Dean for President organizing committee saying, “ It doesn’t matter how many stickers you put up, it’s not going to make a difference. We should take all that money from the bumper stickers and put it towards a direct mailing. That’s more effective.”

The real effectiveness of the bumper sticker

In terms of effectiveness, that may not be the purpose of the bumper sticker. The bumper sticker may play less of a role in influencing others about a candidate. The bumper sticker may, instead, be an important symbol of the action or intended action of the person who places the sticker on their car. The sticker is a public announcement to both people who know you and those you don’t know about your intentions to support a candidate in the voting booth. It may also indicate financial support of the candidate’s campaign as well as participation as a field volunteer or community organizer. Putting a bumper sticker on one’s car is an action of concretizing one’s decision to stand up in support of a candidate. It is also a strong statement of one’s engagement in the political process.

Case concluded his research on bumper stickers by stating: “These expressions have some similarity to graffiti in being current, spontaneous expressions of individuals in an environment. Signs displayed from vehicles differ in that they are not anonymous and clandestine like graffiti, but rather are intimately associated with individuals through one of their most important possessions. Thus, for those interested in examining the cultural environment, bumper stickers and car signs offer insights into what is important to “common folks,” For ordinary citizens, car signs and bumper stickers offer at least some opportunity for self-expression and input into an environment otherwise dominated by mass-mediated symbols and ideas.”

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Case, C. (1992). Bumper Stickers and car signs ideology and identity. Journal of Popular Culture, 26, 107-119.

Lammie, K. and Humphreys, L. (2004). “No votes for turncoats”: An analysis of bumper stickers at public discourse. Unpublished paper presented at the 2004 annual meeting of the National Communication Association, November 11-14, Chicago, Illinois.