When Annapolis native and Loyola student Leah Mazzuchelli, 21, pulls up to a red light, she can feel eyes on her car. Some laugh, others lean closer for a better look.
On the back of her Kia Soul, a blocky sticker reads “I miss the Beatles” with a picture of the boy band One Direction walking on Abbey Road instead of the Fab Four.
“I’ve gotten a lot of people staring at my back of my car being like ‘What is that?’” Mazzuchelli said.
Mazzuchelli welcomes the attention, and is one of the many Gen Zer’s who has found a particular connection to hyper-specific, internet culture, self-deprecating jokes, or meme style bumper stickers.
Stickers bearing messages like “Please be patient I am 9 years old” or “Don’t tailgate me I have rabies” or “I eat glue” are becoming the new language of the road.
Mazzuchelli has experienced a variety of reactions, ranging from confusion to laughter. An older couple, she said, inched closer to her car to get a good look.
“They kept like pulling their car forward, I thought they’re gonna rear end me,” she said, laughing. “They were like taking their phone out and like zooming in on my sticker and giggling and laughing, squinting their eyes trying to figure out what it says,” she said.
Another time, Mazzuchelli was stopped in a bagel shop parking lot.
“I got stopped by this one woman who was looking at all of the stickers on my car and was like ‘Oh my God this One Direction one is hilarious’ and I was like ‘Girl, I know it’s so funny’,” said Mazzuchelli.
Mazzuchelli said her love for stickers and using them for self expression started far before owning her first car. She enjoys how the stickers can spruce up her car while making a personality statement.
“When I was younger, I loved to collect stickers and things like that, so it felt like a natural thing that when I eventually got my own car that I would start to add fun stickers,” said Mazzuchelli.
Thirty-three-year-old Morgan Kautz and her Baltimore-based small business, Little Stinker Shop, is fueling some of the chaotic trend. Kautz first began by making stickers for her friends, which eventually led her to creating her very own online shop.
The stickers, she said, are a form of self expression combined with humor and nostalgia.
“There’s just something about a big blocky obnoxious bumper sticker that is so nostalgic and fun,” Kautz said.
Kautz has around 20 different designs she sells, most of them with 1990s–2000s pop culture references. Her bestsellers include a sticker saying “On my way to the big doofus convention” and “Unless you want to talk to me about the limited run Princess Diana Beanie Baby, keep it moving, pal.”
She’s noticed a rise in popularity among young people. Bumper stickers, she said, have become an easy way to make a statement—whether that be facetious, humorous, or political.
“They’ve gotten bigger with Gen Z and I love that,” Kautz said. “Individualism seems to be fading away in a lot of aspects of life, so I think dressing up your bumper with a ridiculous sticker that makes you laugh is just one fun way to be able to express yourself.”
Baltimore resident Caitlin Cottrill, 21, has close to 12 bumper stickers. One says “I’m so old I don’t buy green bananas,” another says “Gay dolphins.”
The obscure stickers make cars feel less boring and can even be thought provoking, Cottrill said.
“We all see hundreds of cars every day, most of them plain. I think it’s a good way to get people to laugh or think about things they maybe haven’t before on their daily commute,” she said.
However, Cottrill warns that stickers can make cars easily identifiable or even a target for road rage. Cottrill recently had to remove her stickers due to a stalking incident.
“Although I love my stickers, they can definitely provoke people or make you a target, that’s the unfortunate thing,” Cottrill said.
Even with the risks, Kautz’s love for the stickers still prevails. They’re not just decoration; they’re a little act of rebellion, humor, and humanity on the highway.
“Shop small, laugh at nonsense, and if someone is going to be riding your bumper with their bright ass LED lights, you might as well subject them to the dumbest stickers you can find.”
Love this so much! I recently released a PDF book called The Baltimore Sticker Series. Please check it out. There are some really great ones in here. Most of these were found in the Hampden neighborhood:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4366079223/baltimore-sticker-series-pdf-photo-book?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ref=shop_home_active_1&dd=1&logging_key=625fcbb35dea2bec2b2d7f6fef132af065928ab7%3A4366079223