Driving somewhere yesterday, I stopped at a traffic light behind a car sporting one of those ubiquitous magnetic car ribbons � yellow, in support of the troops. These things have been around for about two years, time enough to spawn almost endless variations � from the pink breast cancer awareness magnet, to the [insert color] support our [insert dangerous profession] magnets, to the recent hockey lockout dissatisfaction magnet.

It seems the �genre� of the ribbon magnet has arced rather quickly from its brief classical period (2003 - 2004) to its current parodic period (2005). I�m hopeful that if these things aren�t yet on the way out, they�re at least going to be funny for a little while.

Like all genres the magnet ribbon has its primitive period, and a history that draws from other media. A little bit of digging (a very little bit thanks to the exhaustive research of the American Folklife Center) turned up the curious history of the yellow ribbons we see on the backs of SUVs everywhere.

In the mid-1950s, an urban legend circulated about an ex-convict coming home after some years in jail. Riding in a train car, the ex-con tells his story. He�d sent a letter ahead to his family indicating that if they were willing to take him back they signal their acceptance by tying a white handkerchief to the ol� apple tree. As the train approaches, the ex-con hides his eyes, heartsick that he might be rejected. A companion touches his arm and tells him to look � the entire tree is adorned with white handkerchiefs.

In 1972, the white handkerchief became the yellow ribbon (maddeningly) popularized by Tony Orlando and Dawn.

Set to music, the yellow ribbon was just more melodic than the white hanky. The man was still an ex-con; the family became a girlfriend, the train a bus, and the apple, an old oak tree.

The connection of the yellow ribbon to �the troops� dates from 1979 when Penne Laingen hung a yellow ribbon on her own old oak tree. Her husband, the US ambassador to Iran, and the rest of the embassy staff had been taken hostage. Soon, yellow ribbons were everywhere. From the Laingen oak, they spread to the trees of other hostage families, and from there across the country to trees owned by those not directly connected with the hostages, but who wanted to show their support for the hostages and their families nevertheless.

The yellow ribbons returned to trees for the gulf war. Now they are back in service for the latest war in the Middle East. This time, however, the ribbons are magnets stuck to the backs of cars.

One company claims to have originated the car magnet variation:

Instead of scrounging around for whatever scrap of yellow ribbon may be laying about, the company offers to send its �high quality product at a great price� straight to the consumer. What had been a home-made symbol has become a commodity.

But what�s really curious is that the new yellow ribbon isn�t a ribbon at all. It�s a magnet that represents a ribbon (a skeuomorph, if I'm not mistaken). And rather than designing a magnet after the bows that were tied around trees, the creators of the first car magnets modeled their products after the little loops of ribbon people pinned to their clothes, signaling their support of an issue (AIDS awareness) or a group of people (the troops).

As far as I can tell, that particular loop of ribbon was, if not begun exactly, at least made into the highly recognizable symbol of support that it is, by the AIDS awareness movement.

In another curious twist, it seems the only ribbons you don�t see on the back of cars these days are for AIDS. From Magnet America you can get magnets for numerous cancers, autism, diabetes, law enforcement, firefighters, but none to support AIDS awareness. None of the magnets Magnet America sells are even red. (The one for firefighters, though partly red, is dominated by orange flames � so it doesn�t count.)

It's not surprising that Magnet America would want to distance its products from the AIDS ribbon. It seems, from a glance, a fairly conservative outfit: they sell pro-life magnets and “true love waits” rubber wristbands (in burgundy). But we may lose more than the ancestral ties to the AIDS ribbon, a reminder of that history, when a ribbon becomes a magnet.

Because these ribbons are magnets, they are easier to remove than, say, bumper-stickers, which do the same job. The magnet's easy detachability may make for a bit of dissapointment when someone takes yours, but it also works to suggest a more temporary or tenuous allegiance - one that can be removed without trace. (In the most cynical interpretation, the magnet suggests as much concern for the resale value of the car it's stuck on as it does concern for whatever issue or group it supports.)

And a magnet on the back of a car expresses a different kind of relationship to “support” than the loop of ribbon. A ribbon worn on the clothes invites not only recognition but comment. The person who wears a pin is at least inviting - or risking, depending on the exchange - interaction with others. There�s very little opportunity to engage a driver in conversation about what their ribbon means, what their connection is to the group the magnet claims allegiance with, or what other important forms that person's support may take.