Matthew Hiller (a Hawaii-based sticker maker) says, “There have got to be so many people who are so embarrassed to be repping him on the streets driving their Teslas and who want to completely disavow this guy.”

For longtime Tesla possessors, Elon Musk’s increasing right-wing crusading has made their EVs into mortifying red flags — and now, a bunch are sticker-slapping back. As Heatmap (climate change news site) reports, a Hawaii-based sticker maker Matthew Hiller is doing brisk business selling bumper stickers to Tesla owners who, as one of his products advertises, got their EVs “before we knew [Musk] was crazy.” “I started making stickers on my own before the Elon sticker,” explained Hiller, the Waikiki resident behind the famous Etsy shop “Mad Puffer Stickers.”

An aquarium employee who regularly makes “fish stickers” for work, Hiller shared that he got the idea to start making his tongue-in-cheek accessories in 2023 when considering purchasing a Tesla of his own. After Musk acquired Twitter and started his “extreme censoring,” however, the creative realized he certainly couldn’t handle the heat that came with being linked with such a toxic brand — and that gave him an idea. “I figured, there’s no way I’m buying a Tesla — but there have got to be so many people who are so embarrassed to be repping him on the streets driving their Teslas and who want to completely disavow this guy,” Hiller told Heatmap. “Because I know I would want to sell mine immediately after I saw what he was doing.”

Hiller’s first sticker, a small run of the above-mentioned “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy,” recurrently went viral on social media and even ended up on news sites like Washington Post and Business Insider. Naturally, that meant he had to print way, way more. “I would be selling five to seven a day,” he said, “and then suddenly, there would be 50 a day because someone else talked about it on Reddit.”

Over a year in, Hiller says that the attention his anti-Musk stickers have gotten is “insane” — and after Donald Trump’s electoral upset, sales are up “unbelievably.” “I can barely keep up,” he told Heatmap. “My full-time job is at the aquarium, and I come home and pack stickers until 11 p.m. It’s just me and my wife doing it all.” Apparently, there are lots and lots of cheap knockoffs being sold on Amazon and other similar sites — but considering that Hiller’s are under $10 a pop without Etsy’s sale prices, getting an original is still a feasible option.