Don’t pull up to my bumper baby! Please, just keep your distance.

Article originally published on LinkedIn April 1, 2020

Now, more than ever, we need bumper stickers for people. Whether stuck on the back of your coat or on your bag, they do a couple of things: they ask your fellow human beings to give you a wide berth; in these days of Covid-19, physical distancing and 2-meter exclusion zones, you just want people to stay away from you and keep their distance. They also inject some humour and lightness into the current gloomy global mood and that’s something that we all need to try and keep alive in these challenging times.

People have been putting messages on their vehicles since long before the invention of the car. Advertising slogans were printed on canvas wheel covers, horsefly nets, and painted signs — these advertising pieces laid the groundwork for the bumper stickers we know today. The bumper sticker was invented in 1946 by a Kansas City screen printer named Forest P. Gill. After World War II, he found himself with a surplus of adhesive-backed paper and fluorescent paint so he decided to combine them. From telling fellow drivers to keep their distance to promoting favoured political candidates, bumper stickers are ubiquitous in the States but are rarely seen in the UK and Europe today.

So, for a bit of fun, I’ve designed these bumper stickers for people, designed to be put on your coat, your bag, on your jeans — they’re prominent, cheeky, but to-the-point and leave whoever is walking behind you under no doubt that they must ‘keep their distance’!

Stay safe everyone.