A sticker is a type of

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

: a piece of printed paper,

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

, vinyl, or other material with temporary or permanent

pressure sensitive adhesive Pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA, self-adhesive, self-stick adhesive) is a type of nonreactive adhesive which forms a bond when pressure is applied to bond the adhesive with a surface. No solvent, water, or heat is needed to activate the adhesive ...

on one side. It can be used for decoration or for functional purposes, depending on the situation. Stickers can come in many different shapes and sizes and also vary widely in color and design. They are often adhered to items such as lunchboxes, paper, lockers, notebooks, walls, cars, windows, used as

name tag A name tag is a badge or sticker worn on the outermost clothing as a means of displaying the wearer's name for others to view. Name tags may be temporary, such as a sticker with the iconic image being the "Hello! My Name Is ________"; or it ma ...

s, and so on. The term "

sticker price The list price, also known as the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), or the recommended retail price (RRP), or the suggested retail price (SRP) of a product is the price at which its manufacturer notionally recommends that a retailer ...

" refers to the historic practice of adhering a large sticker to the window of a new car listing its base price, options, shipping charges, etc. (from which a discount was often negotiated).

History

R. Stanton Avery is credited with creating the first self-adhesive sticker in 1935.

Use

Advertisement for fitness studio in Germany

Stickers are very widely used when an object requires identification with a word or idea.

Brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

stickers may be attached to products to label these products as coming from a certain company. They may also be used to describe characteristics of the products that would not be obvious from simple examination, or to clarify either a printing error or change in the product of some kind, such as the country of origination, shift in a product's ingredients, a shelf life date, or

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

notice, without having to scrap pre-existing packaging for such a small change. A

label dispenser Label dispensers and label applicators are machines built to simplify the process of removing a label from its liner or backing tape. Some are bench-top for dispensing the labels while others include the application of the label to the item (suc ...

is often used as a convenient way to separate the sticky label from its liner or backing tape. Stickers placed on

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

bumpers, magnetic and permanent, called ''

bumper stickers A bumper sticker is an adhesive label or sticker with a message, intended to be attached to the bumper of an automobile and to be read by the occupants of other vehicles—although they are often stuck onto other objects. Most bumper stickers ar ...

'', are often used by individuals as a way of demonstrating support for political or ideological causes. Identification of vehicle registration and last service details are two examples of stickers on the inside of most car windscreens. The term "window sticker" is generally used for vinyl labels which are stuck to the inside of a vehicle's window, as opposed to water-resistant stickers that are stuck to the outside of a vehicle but can be affixed to anything. Stickers are also used for embellishing

scrapbooking Scrapbooking is a method of preserving, presenting and arranging personal and family history in the form of a book, box or card. Typical memorabilia include photographs, printed media, and artwork. Scrapbook albums are often decorated and frequ ...

pages. Kinds of stickers sold for this purpose include acrylic, 3D, cardstock,

epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...

, fabric, flocked, sparkly, paper, puffy, and vellum. While in the earlier days of scrapbooking stickers were sold mostly on 2"x6" sheets, now 6"x12" and even 12"x12" size sheets are very common. Stickerart

They are frequently distributed as part of

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

al, and

political campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...

s; for example, in many

voting Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, stickers indicating an individual has voted are given to each voter as they leave the

polling place A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

, largely as a reminder to others to vote. Observers may clap hands, honk a horn or otherwise applaud a good sticker. In the 16th century French aristocracy wore stickers on their face to hide blemishes. Temporary stickers are used today to indicate whether someone is free of certain health symptoms, been vaccinated, or otherwise cleared some security protocol. Stickers are also used as a form of

guerilla marketing ''Guerilla Marketing'' ( si, ගරිල්ලා මාර්කටිං, italic=yes) is a 2005 Sri Lankan Sinhala action thriller film directed by Jayantha Chandrasiri and produced by K.C.K Communications for Euroshian Consultancy. It stars Y ...

, as well as serving as a ubiquitous form of visual and physical vandalism.

Collecting

At their simplest stickers can be beginner-friendly

collectables A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

, serving as a gateway to the collecting hobby. Forming a partnership with

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

in 1970, Panini first produced a World Cup

sticker album A sticker album is a book in which collectable stickers are stuck into designated sections. Sticker album themes can be sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup, English Premier League or TV shows, Movies, Animals or Music. Panini were the f ...

for the 1970 World Cup. Initiating a craze for collecting and trading stickers, since then, collecting and trading stickers has become part of the World Cup experience, especially for the younger generation.“The Magic, Global Craze and Tradition of Panini's World Cup Sticker Albums”
''Sports Illustrated''. Retrieved 2 September 2018 UK newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' states, “the tradition of swapping duplicate orld Cupstickers was a playground fixture during the 1970s and 1980s.”

References

External links

{{Authority control Stationery

History

Use

Collecting

See also

References

External links