Local criticism starts to exercise research staff producing tacky signs indicating the babes are on Board! (8)
I believe the answer is:
stickers
'exercise research staff producing tacky signs indicating the babes are on board' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'local criticism starts' is the wordplay.
'local' becomes 'ers' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'criticism' becomes 'stick' (I've seen this before).
'starts' says to put letters next to each other.
'ers' put after 'stick' is 'STICKERS'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stickers that I've seen before include "Adhesive labels" , "Maybe notices" .)