Pink Flamingos
The demise of the plastic pink flamingo is upon us. Conceived in 1957 by designer Don Featherstone for the Leominster, MA company, Union Products, the pink flamingo became a lawn ornament icon of the sixties and a symbol of the baby boomer generation.
Dotting the lawns of suburbanites everywhere, the flamingo became part of pop culture. Over the years its status fell and it began to represent the ultimate in tackiness. Recently it has experienced an upsurge in popularity, purchased as a prank to mark milestone birthdays. Many an unsuspecting 50-year-old has found a flock of 50 plastic flamingos inhabiting their front lawns.
The plastic pink flamingo will turn 50 next June but the company that makes the original pink flamingo will close its doors on November 1.
That company is not too far from where I live. This news is sad for the future of kitsch.
By Rhea on October 31st, 2006 at 4:14 pm
I am sure that the flamingo will go on, manufactured in China no doubt. But the original, the one that created suburban kitsch, will become a collector’s item in time, relegated to the annals of history…
By Andrea on November 1st, 2006 at 11:43 am
I remember the commerical with the yard full of pink flamingos that used to make me laugh no matter how many times I saw it, I never saw the appeal in it, though I feel for the people that work in the company that makes them.
By Janus on November 6th, 2006 at 7:03 pm