Political Bumper Stickers - Do They Make You Less Likely to Vote for a Candidate?

Imagine - You're driving pleasantly through light traffic when, suddenly, a car cuts you off and slams on the breaks. "I hate when people do that," you think. Then you see it - the Vote for Barack Obama bumper sticker.

How do you feel about the driver at that point? How about Senator Obama?

This just happened to me today. It happens to me often in the DC area. People here are a little more politically active than in Michigan, so there are more political bumper stickers around, and they're much worse drivers. And it's not only Obama bumper stickers. I've been cut off by plenty of cars brandishing McCain bumper stickers too.

When I get cut off, I feel a little annoyed at the driver. I'm a pretty big Obama fan, but when I get cut off by a car flashing an Obama bumper sticker, I connect the negative emotion to Obama. For at least a few minutes, at least on a subconscious level, I feel annoyed at Obama. All because of a political bumper sticker connecting the two.

Is this common? I suspect yes. Our minds often make simple mental associations, whether we realize it or not. Imagine the commercials where gorgeous models peddle Old Spice or Axe body spray. Advertisers are trying to make men associate their product with attractive women. We know that Old Spice and Axe don't make us more attractive to women, but on some level the mind takes the feelings men get when beautiful women like us and then connects the feeling to the product, making us more likely to buy it. Advertisers are well aware of this phenomenon and don't hesitate to take advantage of it.

Or imagine the actor dressed as a dentist who vouches for a particular brand of toothbrush or toothpaste. We know the actor isn't really a dentist, but on some level the mind connects the dentist to the brand and the message, making it more believable - almost as if your dentist himself recommended the product.

It begs the question, do political bumper stickers actually do more harm than good for political candidates?

Political advertisements - bumper stickers, yard signs, t-shirts - undoubtedly help the candidate on some level. There's a reason politicians spend so much money on them. It's almost as if our minds think, "Wow, there are so many signs and bumper stickers for this candidate. He must be stronger than the candidate who doesn't have any signs." And this is actually true. The political candidate with more signs has raised more money, which is a strong indicator of the candidate's support.

But with political bumper stickers, the harm outweighs the gain. Because of rude drivers, political bumper stickers make us think more bad things about candidates than good things. For somebody is undecided, it could be enough to help them decide who to vote for.

In the future, political candidates should seriously consider whether they want to hand out bumper stickers. Or they should only give bumper stickers to people who pass a driver's test!