What are those colorful straps hanging off the rear or front of cars?

There’s 2 separate straps you may find for 2 totally different purposes:

1) “Tuner” type tow hooks & straps:

These are a trickle-down mod, from the race-track to the street (where its effectively more for show). Just like spoilers to an extent, Blood group stickering, etc.

On the track, they make it easy and quick for the car to be towed off or extricated.

2) Hanging branded straps:

this new breed of ‘non-tuner’ tow-hook straps are for MARKETING!

Some times you’ll park your car and a promotion agent sticks the strap under your bumper without your knowledge.

The good news for us is that they are easily removable with zero damage/residue.

The good news for them is that they certainly seem to have caught peoples attention

Source: BHP