Elon Musk's embrace of Donald Trump and expression of right-wing conspiracy theories have "embarrassed" many of his customers.
Sales of anti-Musk stickers have exploded since the tech billionaire helped send the former president back to the White House, and Tesla owners are slapping those on their vehicles in an attempt to distance themselves from the X owner and Trump adviser, reported The Guardian.
“Sales have really spiked," said Matt Hiller, a Hawaii-based aquarium worker who sells anti-Musk stickers online. "The day after the election was the biggest day ever. People saw a billionaire supervillain buy his way into the administration and it rubbed them the wrong way.”
Hiller started selling the stickers last year after he decided against buying a Tesla himself due to Musk's activity on X, and he says he sells several hundred a day with messages like “I Bought This Before Elon Went Crazy,” and the sales reflect the shift in his reputation as an environmental hero to right-wing crank who's now talking about massive layoffs of U.S. government workers as head of the “Department of Government Efficiency."
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“I thought Elon was progressing our country, but he’s turned out to be kind of an evil person” said Mika Houston, a gymnastics teacher in Las Vegas owns a Tesla Model 3. "It’s scary for someone with that sort of money to be so close to a politician."
“I still love my car, but I think about whether I’m endorsing that sort of behavior when I drive it," added Houston, who bought an anti-Musk sticker and is considering selling her car. "I’m embarrassed driving this car around after the election, thinking about the man behind it."
Tesla owner Stacey Davis started selling anti-Musk bumper stickers a year ago, and she reports an 800-percent increase in sales since the election.
“Elon started not aligning with what I believe in and he just started being really weird, extra,” Davis said. “At first we’re like, okay, he’s just one of those eccentric types of people. But then when he went into his political stuff and I was like, oh no, this is not it.”
