London - “Baby on board” signs and various “honk if…” stickers have been common on car windows for years - and now there is the line of stick figures representing your family.
The Sticker Family was launched in Australia in 2009, where it has enjoyed enormous success. The brainchild of Phil Barham and his wife Monica Liebenow, the company now produces more than 200 000 My Family Stickers a month and has launched them in 20 countries including Japan, Canada and South Africa.
The collection has everything from yoga mother to fishing father, guitar girl to football boy. There is even a selection of pets - from cats and dogs to guinea pigs and turtles.
Ian King, the head of UK sales for The Sticker Family says the stickers appeal to children and mothers; “then the whole family gets involved.”
And there might even be an economical reason behind their popularity, says Stuart Humphreys, automotive PR manager at Halfords. “This is largely driven by the big market in used cars and people keeping cars for longer but wanting to freshen-up the look,” he observes.
The ranges are customised for each country; Israel offers figures in fatigues for those doing military service, while Norway has four skiing options for each family member.
In Australia, their ubiquity has caused a huge backlash. In the same way that many motorists find “Baby on board” signs irritating, so too have sticker families been responsible for a fair amount of road rage. Now parody stickers are almost as common as the originals, with pregnant teens and pimp fathers (or should that be daddies?) proving popular.
You can even buy a sticker that reads “I don't give a flying f*** who's in your family” or a clan with nooses around their neck.
Complaints were made against Street FX, the Brisbane company which introduced the hanging family stickers, with some arguing that they might upset those who had lost loved ones to suicide. Its owner Mark Trueno replied drily that the family stickers could be upsetting for those who no longer have parents or were unable to have children. -
The Independent