Tesla dealership protests have inspired a new generation of signs

[ResidentialBusiness]

Elon Musk’s work for President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has turned Tesla dealerships and showrooms into protest zones, and the recent wave of demonstrations has inspired the beginnings of a new visual language of protests in Trump’s second term.

Protests were organized at more than three dozen Tesla locations over the weekend, where people spoke out against DOGE access to government data and cuts the agency has made to government programs. Turnout varied widely from a dozen or so protesters at some events to hundreds who showed up to a protest in San Francisco. These protests represent a more visible sign of anger at Musk, by using one of his most powerful and accessible visual proxies in the public domain—the Tesla brand—as a platform for dissent.

Decatur, Georgia. February 15th, 2025. [Photo: Erik S Lesser/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock]

Messaging for higher stakes

The signage at these recent protests stands in contrast to that of protests four years ago. When Trump first took office in 2017, protests like the Women’s March inspired a new generation of Instagram-friendly protest signs. “Protest is the new brunch” read one sign at a protest outside Trump’s then-Washington, D.C., hotel. “So bad, even introverts are here,” read another at a protest in New York City.

For Millennial and Gen Z protesters who were too young to protest the Vietnam or Iraq wars, these cute, clever signs signaled a mass movement that was new and novel. A 2018 Pew Research Center survey found that more than a quarter of U.S. adults said they had attended a protest in the previous five years.

Columbus, Ohio. February 9th, 2025. [Photo: Paul Becker/Becker1999/Flickr]

Trump’s second inauguration, though, wasn’t met with another Women’s March. Even considering the higher turnout of protests during Trump’s first term, the tone of protest signs during that period are trivial by comparison. This time around, visuals indicate a rightful feeling among protestors that the stakes are much higher—and protest signs in recent days outside Tesla dealerships and showrooms from Arlington, Virginia; Berkley, California; Seattle; as well as outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., show as much.

Seattle, Washington. February 15th, 2025. [Photo: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images]

Images of Musk giving a straight-arm salute at Trump’s inauguration rally compared to a Nazi salute are popular, with messages like “Tesla Funds Fascists,” which appeared on a sign in Seattle. At a protest in Arlington, Virginia, one sign showed the Nazi symbol with a line through it and the words “Get Musk Out of Our Government.”

Other signs feature pro-democracy messages or criticize Musk, the world’s richest man, for holding so much power despite the fact that the American public did not elect him, and the Senate did not confirm him. At a protest outside a Tesla showroom in San Francisco, signs read, “Uphold Our Constitution,” “Uphold the Rule of Law,” “Unelected, Greedy, Dangerous,” and “Defund Elon, No More Government Contracts.” At a protest in Manhattan, signs included “Friendly Reminder, Elon Musk is Not the President” and “Presidents Are Not Kings.”

New York, New York. February 15th, 2025. [Photo: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg/Getty Images]

Although many of the protest signs are serious in nature, humor isn’t completely out of the question, as seen in a sign that read “Bad DOGE.” One sticker that went viral on TikTok warns “Don’t Buy a Swasticar.” While some signs would work equally well in 2017 as 2025, there is less affinity for cringey puns, and the tone is less flippant.

@everyonehateselon

free stickers. link in bio #elon #peoplevselon #tesla

♬ original sound – People vs Elon

Tesla protest’s business impact

Musk’s businesses have come under attack for their owner’s politics. In addition to dealer protests, anti-Musk bumper stickers for Teslas rocketed up the Amazon sales chart after the election last year, and calls to boycott Musk’s companies growing. Singer Sheryl Crow announced she got rid of her Tesla.

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A post shared by Sheryl Crow (@sherylcrow)

The electric car company saw a sharp 16% drop in sales between December and January, although that could be attributable to a variety of factors, including a focus on end of year sales. “It’s still too early to see any (Musk backlash) in the Tesla numbers,” Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights for Cox Automotive, told CNN.

Protest may no longer be the new brunch, but a different visual language is emerging for a new era where protests are less of a fad. Criticizing Trump as fascist isn’t new, but Musk’s salute gives the line of attack a striking new visual while Trump’s attempts to expand his executive powers gives it a heightened sense of urgency. Messages on signs today are more pointed because the threat to democracy protesters are demonstrating against is less abstract, it’s things DOGE is doing right now.

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