In recent months, an increasing number of Tesla owners have put stickers on their cars to signal their disapproval of Tesla’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, and his work in the Trump administration.
Matthew Hiller, owner of online shop MadPufferStickers, listed the sticker, “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy,” on his store in 2023, after becoming disillusioned with how Musk was running X.
“[Musk] was sort of becoming a bully and sort of pushing disinformation. And due to that, I just didn’t want anything to do with him or his brand.”
Hiller, who works at an aquarium in Hawaii, initially just sold fish stickers on his online shop as a side-hustle. A few years ago, he considered buying a Tesla.
“I thought they were very cool. I liked the tech. I liked the fact that they were good for the environment,” Hiller said.
But ultimately he decided against it, and added that first sticker for the Tesla owners who shared his sentiment about Musk.
“I mean, some things are more important than just tech, you know, like, I just don’t want to support someone who is so against who I am and what I believe,” Hiller said. “It was a choice and I didn’t want to be just confused for someone who supported him or agreed with him.”
Since then, he’s added more stickers including ones that read “Anti Elon Tesla club,” “Elon killed my resale value” and “Elon is a dogebag.” Sales took off around the time Musk became a fixture of President Trump’s presidential campaign. MadPufferStickers raked in more than $100,000 over a 30-day stretch between January and February, Hiller said.
He added that he’s sold 70,000 stickers, magnets and clings across Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Redbubble.
Around half of Americans have negative views of Tesla and Elon Musk, according to an April CNBC survey. Hiller’s sales reflect public sentiment about Musk — as well as sales of Teslas, which have fallen dramatically.
The company’s revenue from cars dropped by 20% in the first quarter of the year compared to last year.
Tesla blames that on factors like customers waiting for the new version of the Model Y. Industry analysts say it’s also because of the way customers view Musk, especially his government-slashing action with the unit known as DOGE, or “Department of Government Efficiency.”
Hiller says spikes in sales correlated to Musk appearing in the news. When Musk was seen on stage at a Trump rally — he said he went from selling 50 to 100 stickers per day, to selling hundreds per day. When Musk gestured in a way reminiscent of a Nazi salute at a Trump inauguration event in January, Hiller’s sales hit 500 per day.
Hiller has heard of customers who don’t necessarily disapprove of Musk using the stickers to keep themselves safe — in the wake of several attacks against Tesla vehicles and dealerships.
“Occasionally I get people on my Etsy store, they buy a sticker as a gift, and then they get to write a little note along with the gift to the recipient,” Hiller said. “And occasionally I read the notes and I see one that says like, ‘Happy birthday, from dad. This is to protect you on the mean streets of L.A.'”
He also says the stickers are not just a blue state phenomena.
“I sort of track the cities they were coming from. So of course, I saw a lot of California, San Francisco was huge, and New York, a lot of blue states,” Hiller said. “But then, as time went on, and as everything sort of evolved with what was going on with Elon, I started to see every state, you know, Oklahoma, Missouri, Montana. I started getting Puerto Rico. This is not limited to the United States either. I’ve shipped to so many countries that I lost track.”
Hiller says he doesn’t want to leave his job at the aquarium to sell stickers full time.
“If it ended tomorrow, I’m totally fine,” he said. “You know, I didn’t set out to do this. And it’s certainly not my business plan going forward. I mean, it’s not a really good business plan to bank on a billionaire just annoying people forever.”
Tesla did not respond to NPR’s request for comment about MadPufferStickers.
This story was edited for radio by Adam Bearne and edited for digital by Obed Manuel.
Transcript:
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Tesla sales are falling dramatically. The company’s revenue from cars dropped 20% in the first quarter compared to the same time last year. Tesla blames that on factors such as customers waiting for the new version of its Model Y. Industry analysts say it’s also because of the way customers view CEO Elon Musk, especially his government-slashing actions leading the unit known as DOGE. Now, that’s prompted thousands of Tesla owners to slap stickers on their cars that read…
MATT HILLER: I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy. The Anti-Elon Tesla Club. Elon killed my resale value. Elon is a DOGEbag.
MARTÍNEZ: That’s Matt Hiller, founder of Mad Puffer Stickers. He’s seen a spike in sales since making a range of anti-Elon slogans.
HILLER: I was interested in buying a Tesla. I liked the tech. I liked the fact that they were good for the environment. But this was around January 2023, and he had bought Twitter already. And he was sort of becoming a bully and sort of pushing disinformation, so it completely turned me off of the idea of buying a Tesla. So I figured – I had this sticker store already, and I just knew there had to be so many people out there like me who just already had the Tesla and are just thinking, like, wow. I mean, I got to distance myself from this.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. I mean, how many stickers about Elon Musk would you say that you’ve sold since you came up with the idea?
HILLER: So it’s looking like I’m closing in on about 70,000. That includes everything – like, magnets, vinyl cling, stickers – across all platforms, which is Amazon, Etsy, eBay, all the foreign Amazons – like, European Amazon stores – and Redbubble.
MARTÍNEZ: Over the course of the last, say, year or so, have there been any particular moments when sales of the stickers spiked?
HILLER: The very first one I can remember is – where it went extra big was when he went on stage with Trump at a rally before the election. At that time, I believe I was getting maybe 50 sales a day, maybe a hundred. I can’t even remember at this point, but it spiked so high. It was, like, in the hundreds after that. The next big day after that was after the election. But I would say, by far, the moment that sort of ignited it to where it is now is in January, when he did his salute. I think that just got a lot of people paying attention, and that’s when I started hitting 500 sales a day.
MARTÍNEZ: I’ve seen, you know, the stickers all over the place, but I wanted to talk to a couple of people that have those stickers on their car. So in the parking lot of my local grocery store, I just walked up to a couple of people and asked them why they bought the stickers. And they said a lot of the same things that you said. But they also said that they also didn’t want their car to be damaged…
HILLER: Oh, yes.
MARTÍNEZ: …Because they’ve seen all of the videos and reports of vandalizing anything Tesla- or Elon Musk-related. Have you heard from people that also are worried that if they don’t have a sticker like this, someone might be angry at them and mess up their car?
HILLER: Yes. So occasionally, I get – people on my Etsy store, they buy a sticker as a gift, and then they get to write a little note along with the gift to the recipient. Occasionally, I read the notes, and I see one that says, like, happy birthday from Dad. This is to protect you on the mean streets of LA.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow.
HILLER: I’ve heard anecdotally that some people who aren’t necessarily against Elon would buy the sticker anyway, just as a form of protection on their car.
MARTÍNEZ: So how much money have you made off of all this?
HILLER: I’ve made, you know, into the six figures.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow.
HILLER: It’s kind of changed my life over the last few months, just trying to keep up with it.
MARTÍNEZ: I mean, how long do you think this will go on?
HILLER: If it ended tomorrow, I’m totally fine. You know, I didn’t set out to do this, and it’s certainly not my business plan going forward. It – I mean, it’s not a really good business plan to bank on a billionaire just annoying people forever, right?
MARTÍNEZ: That’s Matt Hiller, creator of a bunch of anti-Elon Musk stickers for Tesla owners. Matt, thank you very much.
HILLER: Thank you very much.
MARTÍNEZ: And we just want to note that we reached out to Tesla to ask them about the Mad Puffer stickers. They have yet to respond.
