Amidst the continuing controversies and campaigns in opposition to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Hawaii-based entrepreneur Matthew Hiller has made a killing. Hiller is the person behind a number of the hottest anti-Elon Musk stickers which were noticed in Teslas over the previous months.
However in a current remark to NPR, Hiller shared one thing quite attention-grabbing—a few of his clients are buying stickers even when they don’t essentially disapprove of Elon Musk.
Enterprise Increase
In a remark to NPR, Hiller, who additionally works at an aquarium in Hawaii, famous that he listed his first anti-Musk sticker in his on-line store MadPufferStickers in 2023. The sticker learn, “I purchased this earlier than we knew Elon was loopy.” On the time, Hiller famous that Musk was “kind of changing into a bully and kind of pushing disinformation.” Whereas Hiller truly thought-about shopping for his personal Tesla previously, Musk’s actions ended up disillusioning him from the corporate.
“I assumed they had been very cool. I preferred the tech. I preferred the truth that they had been good for the surroundings… I imply, some issues are extra necessary than simply tech, you realize, like, I simply don’t need to assist somebody who’s so in opposition to who I’m and what I imagine. It was a alternative and I didn’t need to be simply confused for somebody who supported him or agreed with him,” Hiller said.
The entrepreneur’s sticker enterprise noticed a notable increase in current months, particularly following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. Hiller has since expanded his sticker lineup, with common ones like “Anti Elon Tesla Membership,” “Elon is a dogebag,” and “Elon killed my resale worth.” Hiller has bought about 70,000 stickers, magnets, and clings throughout his on-line outlets on Amazon, Etsy, Redbubble, and eBay up to now.
Shocking Clientele
Together with his enterprise rising, Hiller famous that he has obtained orders from throughout the globe, permitting him to attain gross sales of $100,000 in a single month. This was no shock as Musk has turn out to be a controversial determine, not simply in the US however in a number of international locations throughout Europe as effectively. When Musk carried out his controversial gesture in January alone, Hiller recorded 500 gross sales in someday.
Most surprisingly, nonetheless, a few of Hiller’s clients could not essentially disapprove of Elon Musk’s politics or his involvement with the Trump administration via his work with the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE). Hiller shared a transaction on his Etsy retailer to NPR, which concerned a sticker that was ordered by a father to his son, who lived in Los Angeles.
“Sometimes, I get individuals on my Etsy retailer, they purchase a sticker as a present, after which they get to put in writing a bit of observe together with the reward to the recipient. And infrequently I learn the notes and I see one that claims like, ‘Glad birthday, from dad. That is to guard you on the imply streets of L.A.,’” Hiller famous.
The shopper’s observe is no surprise contemplating that Teslas have been subjected to a wave of vandalism assaults from individuals or activists who’re vital of Elon Musk. The Tesla vandalism incidents, in addition to Molotov and taking pictures assaults on Tesla shops, have been condemned by the Trump administration.
Not a Full-Time Gig
Regardless of his enterprise growth, Hiller famous that he doesn’t intend to depart his aquarium job but, nor does he intend to promote stickers full-time. Thus, even when the Elon Musk controversies ended tomorrow, the entrepreneur famous that he could be wonderful.
“If it ended tomorrow, I’m completely wonderful. , I didn’t set out to do that. And it’s definitely not my marketing strategy going ahead. I imply, it’s not a extremely good marketing strategy to financial institution on a billionaire simply annoying individuals perpetually,” Hiller said.
