Artistic License Redux

This is 99% Invisible. I'm Roman Mars. In 1928, a strange phenomenon was sweeping the state of Idaho, a vanishing act of sorts. A Boise resident would wake up on a typical Monday morning, drag themselves out of bed, get dressed for the day, and they would hop in their car to drive to work, not noticing that something was missing. And suddenly, cops in the rear view. Then the next thing that the driver of the car knew, they were getting picked up because they weren't displaying a license plate. Idaho historian Rick Just says license plates, well, they were disappearing. The secretary of state was fielding complaints about all the lost tags. And soon enough, the culprit became clear. Tourists would come to Idaho and steal the plates. Idaho's license plates were being snatched up like plush hotel bathrobes. Yeah. Yeah. People would come up. They would pull up to, either a tourist park or a motel or something, and they would spot those plates and think, you know, I'd like to have a souvenir. And so they would just, take it off of the car and, take it home. And there was a reason why people couldn't resist swiping Idaho plates in particular. That year, the state had revolutionized license plate design. That's reporter Daniel Ackerman. Before this, plates were basic with info like the state name and the registration numbers, all of this on a pretty simple solid colored background. But in 1928, the secretary of state in Idaho had an epiphany. He was like, we have this half square foot of open real estate just rolling around on everyone's cars. Let's do something with it. The 1928 plate is often said to be the very first advertising license plate in the country. Their very first one that tried to advertise a product. And the product that Idaho chose will surprise absolutely no one. The state's nineteen twenty eight license plates all featured a single giant potato. A big kind of elongated goofy looking potato, but big. It was as almost as big as the plate. The registration numbers were stamped in green lettering right on top of this lumpy brown spud. I would say it looks almost, fecal in nature. It does. It really the shape particularly. Yes. Yes. The execution wasn't perfect, but it was innovative. Below the tremendous tater, there was even a modest, pragmatic slogan, Idaho potatoes. Today, every state's got a marketing slogan. Hawaii is the Aloha State. Missouri is the Show Me State. But Idaho was the first to put theirs on a license plate. They wanted to make sure that when people thought about Idaho, they thought potatoes. And for better or worse, the association stuck. And now it's it's gotten to be such a thing. I mean, coming up here in a few days at, New Year's Eve, we drop a potato. What do you mean? That's a we well, you know how the Times Square ball comes …