Friday, September 18, 2009

In-N-Out. That's What A Bumper Sticker is All About.


I was recently reminded of the following story.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the hamburger chain "In-N-Out" which is quite popular in the Southwestern US. During the 80s, you could go to one of the restaurants and pick up a free bumper sticker with "IN-N-OUT BURGER" boldly proclaimed in white letters on a bright red background. It quickly became fashionable to cut out the letters "B" and "R" in the word "BURGER" and slap the revised sticker on your car. Suggesting something much more than a simple fast-food meal.

In 1984, I got my drivers license and my parents handed me the keys to our 1975 Datsun 710 station wagon. I quickly proceeded to cover the back bumper in all sorts of obnoxious stickers, but I hadn't yet gotten around to putting the "In-N-Out Urge" on the car. However, a crafty buddy of mine decided we could do better. He got a few of the bumper stickers, some scissors and some tape, and custom-made a sticker just for my car:

IN-N-OUT BURRITO

Talk about suggestive!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of his handiwork, but he did such an awesome job! You had to get real close to it to see that it was a hack.

Soon after, In-N-Out revised their bumper stickers and substituted a cartoon picture of a burger for the word "Burger". Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.