Adhesive-backed articles

An adhesive-backed film comprising:

• a compliant pigmented polymeric film having an upper surface and a lower surface, said compliant film having an inelastic deformation of at least 5 percent after being stretched once to 115 percent of its original length wherein the compliant film is solid;
• and
• a pressure sensitive adhesive permanently bonded to the planar lower surface of said compliant polymeric film, said pressure sensitive adhesive having a microstructured surface, opposite said film, that can be bonded to a surface of a motor vehicle, with a pattern of channels being formed in said microstructured surface that define a volume ranging from at least 1×103 μm3 up to about 1×107 μm3 per any 500 μm diameter circular area of said pattern so that, after final application of said article onto the surface of a motor vehicle, the upper surface of said compliant film has an appearance with substantially no periodicity and substantially no surface roughness beyond the periodicity and surface roughness of the film by itself in accordance with the Surface Roughness Test,
• wherein channels formed on the microstructured surface define exit pathways that provide a fluid egress from behind said article when said article is applied to the surface of a motor vehicle and wherein the adhesive-backed film is suitable for being adhered to a surface of a motor vehicle.