Bumperstickers: Why the difference between Europe and America?

Has anyone else noticed the difference, other than the size, between the cars on the streets in Europe and the cars that Americans drive? There are almost literally NO bumperstickers on the cars in Europe. I’ve even had times here in Paris as I walk the streets, I force myself to pay attention (that’s harder than one might think for me) and I can’t find but one or two tiny, sand-dollar-sized bumper stickers in, say, a hundred cars that I pass.

That got me thinking about the bumper stickers back home. It would be hard to find five cars without at least one bumper sticker. On top of that, most of the stickers have either a band, a college, or a presidential candidate on them. What does that mean? If the stickers don’t say anything other than presenting what the person likes/supports without any reasons why, does that mean we’re, to some extent, self-obsessed? The fact that we think other people are interested in what we find important without any substance or basis for why we like them?

Does this make any sense to anyone?

This isn’t to say that bumper stickers are all void of any purpose. I’ve seen some pretty good ones in my time. I’m just saying that most of them don’t say much.

I’m thinking about a Daily Show skit where either Colbert or Cordrey says something like, “I prefer my political statements in t-shirt form, Jon.” I think it was one of the “A Spot of Indecision 2004,” talking about the British elections.

Is this going anywhere?

I’m going to leave it at that and see if anyone picks up on this.

You’ll find a lot more stickers on the insides of rear windows of European cars. Apart from ones put in by the dealer who supplied the car, the most freqeuent are perhaps football-related ones, with campaigning & ‘humorous’ ones also common (although often single-issue themes rather than political affiliations).

I dunno if bumper stickers are quite as ubiquitous in the U.S. as you imply; seems to me they’re gotten less popular in recent years. But to the extent that the OP’s observation reflects reality, I can offer a couple of WAG’s why:

Americans are more prone to consider their vehicles an extension of themselves. (Thus, the popularity of big SUV’s that make the drivers feel big, pimped rides, etc.) So they’re more prone to express themselves and their affiliations on their vehicles. Or,

It’s just one of those self-perpetuating things. People see other people doing it so they do it themselves.

Jesus Loves You
but he loves me more

Saw that one yesterday and almost wrecked I was laughing so hard. :smiley: