Illustration of a television with white text on the screen

The saying on this button became a popular bumper sticker slogan in 1979 when nationally renowned art-furniture maker Ed Zucca printed up the first 100 stickers. According to a 2000 article in the Baltimore Sun, Zucca felt that TV was “transforming humanity into some kind of monster” so he advocated killing it before it killed you. After the first batch of stickers ran out, fellow woodworker G. Leslie Sweetnam took up the cause and went to progressive printers Donnelly/Colt to make more. The slogan has been printed on posters, stickers, buttons, T-shirts and coffee mugs.

White text on an illustration of a red and black brick background

During times of war, the United States government enacts selective service drafts requiring those registered of legal age to go to war. In the 1960's, draft resistance organizations formed to protest the required military service. Many believe that they should not be forced go to war as service to their country for something they do not support personally. Through many political protests and movements that brought attention to the matter, the draft changed to be more fair and equitable after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. In the 1980's, the draft registration was reinstated forcing men of legal age to register for selective service. In 2019, the male-only requirement was determined to be unconstitutional, but at the time of writing, there are no new regulations on selective service.

During the 1980's, the Reagan administration hinted at a conflict in Afghanistan that might require a draft to get soldiers. This implementation of draft and the conflict in the Middle East were largely criticized and protested.

Black text on top of an upside-down pink triangle on a blue background

The phrase “I’m straight but not narrow” refers to a person having a heterosexual orientation, but they are open-minded and accepting of a person’s sexual orientation. In a sense, they are straight, but not narrow-minded. This phase has been used on bumper stickers supporting gay-straight alliances. There is also a non-profit organization by the name, Straight But Not Narrow (SBNN) and it is a charity that focuses on straight youth, young adults, and strives to positively influence the perceptions of, and behavior toward, their LBGT peers. 

Illustration of a brown teddy bear with black text on a light blue background

"I want to grow up not blow up" was a common slogan for the nuclear disarmament movement in Britain, Canada and the US starting in the 1960s. Children and some parents with babies carried signs with this slogan on them during protests. The slogan is supposed to give the movement a more emotional impact by appealing to people's compassion for the children who may be killed in a nuclear attack. Blue was chosen as the color of the nuclear freeze movement because it is a soothing color.

Black, white, red, yellow, brown and green text on a white background

The colors listed on this button refer to outdated terms for people of different race and skin color. The crossing out of each color with only the word “human” remaining connotes that instead of focusing on the differences amongst people of different ethnicities, people should instead focus on the fact that people are all the same because they are all human.

White and red text on an American flag background

This button was created for people in the United States who wanted to express their feelings on the U.S. government’s involvement in war. Many Americans oppose the United States' continued participation in wars that were considered unwinnable and everlasting. 

Illustration of a green holiday wreath with red berries and a red ribbon in the shape of a peace sign on a white background

This button utilizes the iconic peace symbol in the form of a holiday wreath, and may have been used during the holiday season for protests.

The peace sign was originally created in 1958 by Gerald Holtom for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Inspired partly by semaphore flag signals for "N" and "D" (Nuclear Disarmament), Holtom sketched the symbol several times in preparation for the upcoming protests. Afterward the symbol was adopted by the American Student Peace Union in the 1960s, it grew to become the iconic symbol that we know today. Holtom passed away in 1985, and his collection of sketches was donated to the Commonweal Collection at the University of Bradford.

Black and red text on a white background

The slogan is most often seen in relation to LGBT activism and equality. It refers to the belief that people are not born prejudiced, but rather taught to hate specific groups of people by their family members and in order to effect real change and make the word a better place, people must first start by teaching their children to treat everyone with respect and kindness.

Illustration of the Uncle Sam caharacter surrounded by red text on a light blue background

Silver text on a black inner circle surrounded by an outer silver edge with red text

This button protests the Strategic Defense Initiative, which was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the U.S. from attack by strategic nuclear weapons. President Ronald Reagan first proposed the system in 1983, during the Cold War with the former Soviet Union. In the mainstream media, SDI was nicknamed as “Star Wars” in reference to the popular film franchise.  Critics of SDI used the nickname derisively, implying that it was impractical science fiction fantasy and did much to damage the project’s credibility. Those who opposed the Strategic Defense Initiative felt that the technology was unreliable and was dangerous to humanity.