Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Nett hier

 

Nett hier. Aber waren Sie schon mal in Baden-Württemberg? (Nice here. But have you ever been to Baden-Württemberg?)

This is a slogan from a 1999 marketing campaign by the advertising agency Scholz & Friends for the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Even though I was living at that time in Tübingen which is located in Baden-Württemberg, I was completely unaware of this campaign. I was busy with a toddler and my volunteer work at the crisis hotline.

Years later, the slogan has been printed on stickers - and they seem to appear everywhere. I first saw it in an Instagram post by my daughter. She had seen it in Gent, Belgium, in the summer of 2024. 

When we travelled later that year, we saw it as well.

In Hamburg...

Before I go on, I want to make something clear: I am not at all a fan of pasting stickers everywhere. Actually I find it quite hideous. However, seeing this sticker I couldn't help but feel a bit of local pride. Not of the sticker or the people who thought it necessary to stick it there, but because of the place it represents. Even though I had lived in four German states (Lower-Saxony, North Rine-Westphalia, Hesse, and Baden-Württemberg), slowly moving from the North to the Southwest, it is Baden-Württemberg that I call my home.

In Moab, Utah...


On a stop sign along Highway 12 in Utah (you almost can't see it)...


With all of these I was sort of okay with (well, not really, to be honest). It's not beautiful, but it's a sign of our time to leave our crap everywhere. I don't waste any grievance on that.

But what I came upon in Bryce Canyon was not okay at all.


Obviously someone had unsuccessfully tried to remove it. This is made to stick - and it is disgusting. No local pride was left here, just a very bad calling card.





9 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Wow, once you see something, then it's everywhere you look!

David M. Gascoigne, said...

As you say, Carola, the sticker may have been successful as a marketing campaign, but sticker madness seems to take over, and people feel a need to attach them everywhere. I am absolutely not a sticker fan! Big hugs - David

Tom said...

...stickers have become epidemic.

Éva said...

Constant repetition leaves a deep impression on people, but it also repels them.
Why do I feel this in the eternal repetition of phrases in the current election campaigns in my country?
Why do I see election posters everywhere on walls and lampposts? Of course I know, and I have already reached the point where they repel me.
Sorry for straying from your topic, but perhaps it still belongs here somehow.

Jeanie said...

That had to be a surprise in Bryce! I haven't quite understood the sticker thing. I never really heard of it much till the recent years. But I can see why that one would resonate.

Veronica Lee said...

Funny how that slogan you barely noticed back then now shows up everywhere, even far from home.
I get the pride part, but I agree--stickers on nature just feel like litter.
Happy Thursday, Carola!

Michelle said...

Yes, stickers have really taken over as a fad, I think. Once you notice something, you will spot it everywhere!

My name is Erika. said...

I agree about stickers being everywhere. I don't mind if there's one place-like a board where they go, but the whole world doesn't need to be covered in stickers. Interesting you keep seeing these Baden-Wurttemberg stickers everywhere. And I'm jealous you can be weeding. We still have some snow, and we might even get a dumping Sunday night. AUGH! hugs-Erika

Teresa said...

Lo de las pegatinas parece que está por todo el mundo, a mí no me gusta. Besos.