11-06-2005, 09:22 AM
Popular symbols tend to wane over time
Indiana Star
November 6, 2005
MESSAGE ON A MAGNET: The "Support Our Troops" message might be displayed on fewer cars than last year's total, even though the support remains. - 2004 Star file photo
Funny, then, that she sees fewer and fewer on the road. There are still plenty out there, she said, but "not like they used to be."
Which means that for every car that no longer has one of those magnets on it, a day came when the driver said, "time to lose the magnet."
There's been plenty said about why people put on those magnetic ribbons, or yellow Lance Armstrong Livestrong fight-cancer wristbands, or red-white-and-blue flag pins.
But when to take them off? And why? Presumably, it's not because the troops need less support, or that the war on cancer needs a breather, or that the country needs no more patriots.
It's the display, not the cause
"It is a really interesting question," said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of media and popular culture. If supporting a cause was the main reason why people displayed those messages, he said, the messages would probably stay put.
But the display is just as much about us as a cause.
"Usually, it's about what people decide to say about themselves in a portable way," he said.
And that changes over time.
At Bob Siemon Designs, which originated the once-ubiquitous WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) jewelry, change is part of the game plan.
Natalie Clark, marketing director for the Santa Ana, Calif., company, said customers who retire a piece of Bob Siemon jewelry they found meaningful generally don't go cold turkey. Almost always, she said, they find another message.
So customers who marked their faith last year with one of Bob Siemon's nail pendants (from Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ") may decide to update their message this year with a Bob Siemon leaf pendant (from the upcoming "Chronicles of Narnia" film).
Magnet America, a North Carolina company that lays claim to popularizing the yellow car magnets, has already moved on. Overseas knockoffs have eaten into sales, so the company is looking to popularize other designs supporting cures for autism, cerebral palsy, etc.
"We're trying to get people in the habit of changing them," said Chris Hales, a spokesman.
Doesn't all this smack of short-attention-span theater?
"It's just human nature that people would change," Hales said. "You might believe in one thing this week and not believe in it next week." Or to find a new cause that suddenly speaks to you.
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Indiana Star
November 6, 2005
MESSAGE ON A MAGNET: The "Support Our Troops" message might be displayed on fewer cars than last year's total, even though the support remains. - 2004 Star file photo
Funny, then, that she sees fewer and fewer on the road. There are still plenty out there, she said, but "not like they used to be."
Which means that for every car that no longer has one of those magnets on it, a day came when the driver said, "time to lose the magnet."
There's been plenty said about why people put on those magnetic ribbons, or yellow Lance Armstrong Livestrong fight-cancer wristbands, or red-white-and-blue flag pins.
But when to take them off? And why? Presumably, it's not because the troops need less support, or that the war on cancer needs a breather, or that the country needs no more patriots.
It's the display, not the cause
"It is a really interesting question," said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of media and popular culture. If supporting a cause was the main reason why people displayed those messages, he said, the messages would probably stay put.
But the display is just as much about us as a cause.
"Usually, it's about what people decide to say about themselves in a portable way," he said.
And that changes over time.
At Bob Siemon Designs, which originated the once-ubiquitous WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) jewelry, change is part of the game plan.
Natalie Clark, marketing director for the Santa Ana, Calif., company, said customers who retire a piece of Bob Siemon jewelry they found meaningful generally don't go cold turkey. Almost always, she said, they find another message.
So customers who marked their faith last year with one of Bob Siemon's nail pendants (from Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ") may decide to update their message this year with a Bob Siemon leaf pendant (from the upcoming "Chronicles of Narnia" film).
Magnet America, a North Carolina company that lays claim to popularizing the yellow car magnets, has already moved on. Overseas knockoffs have eaten into sales, so the company is looking to popularize other designs supporting cures for autism, cerebral palsy, etc.
"We're trying to get people in the habit of changing them," said Chris Hales, a spokesman.
Doesn't all this smack of short-attention-span theater?
"It's just human nature that people would change," Hales said. "You might believe in one thing this week and not believe in it next week." Or to find a new cause that suddenly speaks to you.
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