Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The language of the backs of cars

I'm a reader. Even when I'm driving, I'm a reader. So I notice bumper stickers and license plates to what I am told is an unusual degree. So, I can say with a great deal of confidence that there were a far greater than average number of "arts" and "environmental" license plates in the lot when I dropped Jonathan off for rehearsal last night. My van was the right choice for the evening, since it sports the environmental license plate, supporting the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Specialty license plates in Indiana went through a boom a few years back when the regular plate was ugly. Now, with a more attractive regular plate, and the "In God We Trust" option, you don't see as many specialty plates around, so the concentration of them in that parking lot showed me that these were people who would put their money where their mouths were.

Of course, bumper stickers are the most obvious car speech. I'm noticing a trend.

The Obama/Biden hopeychangey bumper stickers are disappearing. Quickly. There are cars that I recognize because I see them often that have recently dropped them. I've noticed that the saturation in the campus parking lot is way down. What does this mean? Buyer's remorse, maybe? I'll continue watching this trend.

5 comments:

Elephantschild said...

Veeery interesting.

Erin said...

My favorite bumper stickers that I have been seeing more and more of?
"NObama" and "Nope". They always make me laugh.

Nannette said...

I'm afraid too my car has lots of anti-Obama stickers as well...but with good reasons, however, my favorite one my hubby has on there is Jan. 20, 2009, the beginning of an error.

My hubby just told us yesterday about the new Obama one he saw, it had his circle insigna and it was crossed out and one word next to it, NOPE.

Anonymous said...

I think my favorite set of bumper stickers was on a car whose kids were taking the government class that you taught during the election. "I vote constitutionally" and "Obama/Biden" Every week I wondered how those two went together.

Anonymous said...

I think my favorite set of bumper stickers was on a car whose kids were taking the government class that you taught during the election. "I vote constitutionally" and "Obama/Biden" Every week I wondered how those two went together.