Plastic flamingo
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Pink plastic flamingos are one of the most famous of lawn ornaments, along with garden gnomes and other such ornamentation.
The pink flamingo was designed in 1957 by Don Featherstone while working for Union Products, and has become an icon of pop culture, as well as a statement.[1] It has even spawned a lawn greeting industry where flocks of pink flamingos are installed on a victim's lawn in the dark of night. Plastic flamingos are widely considered to be the stereotypical example of lawn kitsch.[1]
Union Products, of Leominster, Massachusetts, stopped production of pink flamingos on November 1, 2006. However, HMC International LLC, a subsidiary of Faster-Form Corporation, purchased the copyright and plastic molds of Featherstone's original plastic flamingos in 2007, and will be resuming production of them in Westmoreland, New York.[2]
Pink flamingos are the namesake of the 1972 movie Pink flamingos by John Waters.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Collins, Clayton (2006). Backstory: Extinction of an American icon?. Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. Published: November 2, 2006
- ^ Retro pink flamingos to hatch in New York. MSNBC (2007). Retrieved on 2008-04-23. Published: May 31, 2007. From the Associated Press, on the purchase and re-production of Don Featherstone's original plastic-flamingo design.
- ^ Is the pink flamingo an endangered species?. MSNBC (2006). Retrieved on 2008-04-23. Published: November 1, 2006. From the Associated Press
- Pescovitz, David (2006). Pink flamingos, RIP. BoingBoing. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. Published: October 19, 2006.
- Price, Jenny (2006). In the Pink No More. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. Published November 17, 2006 - Reflects on the shutdown of the original plastic-flamingo factory and the flamingo's impact on popular culture.
- Featherstone, Don (1999). The Original Pink Flamingos: Splendor on the Grass. Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 978-0764309632.
