MORE ON THE EVOLUTION OF STICKERS

I want to look at ancient Eastern religious practices that contributed, again by accident, to the development of bigger and better stickers. But first let's have a VERY brief vocabulary lesson. For a fair and balanced look at the history of the sticker it is essential to have a set of common and complete semantics. A sticker vocabulary, you might say. Words as Tools. Because without them your sticker experience would be no more than a ridiculous trek through the land of graffiti. I'm not necessarily thinking of the obvious scientific terminology essential to the sticker industry like matte, foil, lamination, adhesive or gloss but........ ........Tom!....Get off......don't do that to my hair......git the hell off.... ow, ow, ow, OUCH!.....get outta here freak! (Tom goes away cracking up, fast walking toward his office). .......Crap - Oh man that hurt....Oh crap that hurt. If I had to sum Tom up in exactly ONE word it would have to be: "Total Loser". The only reason he's permitted to stay around here is because he happens to be an expert on Stickers, Labels, and Decals............Ahw....my freakin ear....dang! Ok, forgive me for the delay. Let's get back to stickers and the importance of the vocabulary that surrounds them. I'm going to pick the word "ARBITRARY" for today's lesson. Let's, not anyone, use a dictionary or thesaurus in defining our word and what not. Arbitrary is basically a thing or event not done according to the defined rule or rules. It's like haphazard but on purpose. Say for example, in a courtroom setting, if the D.A. brings in a word just so the jury can hear it that would be an arbitrary use of that word. The judge would probably warn the D.A. but the jury has already heard it. You can't unring the.........unring the.........you can't unring the.. well; you can't go back in time and change things. In advertising, the ARBITRARY use of words is a common practice. Is it Legal? Yes. Is it Ethical? Maybe. Is it Moral? No! What if a major airline (I won't give their name; I'll just use the initials). What if TWA wanted to do a series of TV spots for their company? Their admen could mention Delta, American, Pan Am, Bob's Airline, Continental, etc. but that might not be the prudent or cost effective way to go. A 60 second commercial for TWA should mention TWA at least 391 times. TWA this, TWA that, TWA flies to....TWA will get you there....TWA is.... TWA is the airline...... TWA, TWA, TWA. See what I mean. That is an arbitrary use of TWA. 100% Immoral!

When it comes to Stickers, Labels, and Decals you won't see that. Stickers, Labels, and Decals sell themselves. Everybody needs Stickers, Labels, and Decals. Everybody knows others who need and use Stickers, Labels, and Decals. Everybody knows others who know others who need and use Stickers, Labels, and Decals. Stickers, Labels, and Decals are a market in themselves. 7,000 years ago, if history is correct, they had only one sticker so there was no need for advertisements about Stickers, Labels, and Decals. In 1846 we had Stickers and we had Labels but we didn't have Decals so advertising Stickers, Labels, and Decals would be unheard of. But in 1965 when the Edgarballs Dung Sticker was discovered in a janitor closet the World was saturated with Stickers, Labels, and Decals. Not to arbitrarily stray but I am reminded of when I was a kid watching a Three Stooges episode on our black and white Magnavox. In this episode the mayor of the town was trying to set up a sort of black market for StiCkErs, LaBelS, and DeCALs. It was the job of the Stooges, as Acme detectives, to reveal and put a stop to the illegal practices of the mayor. The plot of the episode is of little importance here. As a matter of fact all I remember is that Moe "punished" Curly and Larry without mercy throughout the entire show. What is important is that, because of episodes like this one, we see that Stickers, Labels, and Decals were an integral part of the American way of life in 1938.