I’ve had this washtub for more than 30 years. My children had their Lego and other small toys in it. At that time, stickers were extremely popular among children. You got them everywhere. When buying clothes, toys, or shoes. The really advanced collectors emptied their piggy banks and invested in special editions. The more glitter and glam, the better it was. I designated this tub to be the stickers pasting item and banned stickers on books or furniture.

Why do I write about this? Because the stickers are again in vogue. Especially on Instagram Stories. In my opinion, this channel is where otherwise sensible, intelligent, and mature people retreat into their childhood and succumb to their urge for pink plastic and glitter. Now in the shape of gaudy, digital stickers which are ruining otherwise perfectly decent visual expressions, which they may have spent hours creating or even bought, expensively. SAD.

I found this justification for using Instagram stickers online:
Instagram stickers, whether GIFs or graphics, provide an up-leveled experience to social media. Gone are the days of flat, static images. Stickers provide users the ability to customize their social sharing experience, while also expressing personal interests and affinities. For businesses specifically, this provides the ability to brand content to enhance users’ experience in the platform. It also offers businesses the chance to utilize current events and pop culture to provide trending and relevant additions to social media that have your brand stamp.

Brand Stamp??? If you cannot find other ways in which to give your business a “brand stamp” than using Instagram Stickers, I must say I feel very sorry for you. Maybe it is time to consider a visual branding process? It will result in something that is uniquely yours. You don’t have to retreat to your childhood ways of making your mark. “Customize” means tailor-made, and this is exactly what a visual branding process is. Something just for YOU!

If you require non-static content or suffer from a fear of flat images, I can recommend an animated video presentation in your graphic profile. I’ll gladly make one for you, just let me know.

It seems like the rationale for using Instagram Stickers is that they are only visible for 24 hours, so it doesn’t matter that they make my brand look like something from “TOYS ‘R’ US”. 24 hours is plenty of time to contaminate the impression of an otherwise decent and mature brand. Think again before you paste. Nobody wants their brand to look like my washtub.