Updated April 25, 2025 at 14:30 PM ET
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.
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