Made in Australia logos have become an art form. Everyone who rides a snowboard has stickers or decals of some kind to make them unique. They represent who the rider is and what they find important. The stickers on a snowboard can tell you a lot about the rider: where they have been, what they wear, what kind of music they listen to, who they voted for, and their sense of humor. Those stickers, like all forms of advertising influence the people who see them, consciously or subconsciously. Stickers are the graffiti of the snowboarder. Rattle cans of paint tend to freeze up in 15-degree weather so a quick sticker on the lift tower as you ride by has become a great alternative, though we do not condone such behavior nor want to see this sort of thing perpetuated on our slopes. Stickers are much easier to read than teenage scribblings with a sharpie.
Businesses recognized this phenomenon early on and have taken full advantage of creating stickers with their Made in Australia Logo. If you are a fan of Burton or Quicksilver equipment you will likely have their stickers on your board. It is brilliant advertising on the part of these companies.
The great thing about stickers is that they are easily traded, purchased, and changed out. Just peel off the old one and stick on a new one when the mood strikes you. You can literally transform the look of your board from season to season and when the next big thing comes along, you do not have to replace your board, just change out the stickers. Some stickers are more popular than others and it seems like the more you see a sticker, the less popular it is becoming, paradoxically. No one wants to be a conformist. Everyone wants to be unique. If everyone has Oakley goggles, they are not unique anymore and thus their popularity is in decline. Plus, when people who have never even been on a mountain start sticking Grenade stickers on their trucks because they like grenades, they will lose their influence on the slopes. When was the last time you saw a pair of LA Gears?
Ultimately the stickers on the board do not make the rider any better. The rider, in the final analysis, is the one who makes the stickers on the board influential. You can have all of the hottest brands or slogans plastered all over yourself and your board but if you have to scoot yourself down the mountain on your backside, it is all for naught. Once you can destroy the slopes and make it look easy, then the stickers you choose for your board or helmet, or car will have an impact on the rest of us. Until then, we will not even give your snowboard stickers a second glance.
