Posted on 10/24/2006 2:39:49 AM PDT by mcg2000
The pink plastic flamingo, a Florida-inspired icon that has been reviled as kitschy bad taste and revered as retro cool, is dead at age 49.
The pop culture symbol met its demise after its manufacturer, Union Products, of Leominster, Mass., was socked with a triple economic threat -- increases in costs of electricity and plastic resin combined with loss of financing. Production ended in June, and the plant is scheduled to close Nov. 1, according to president and CEO Dennis Plante. Union Products made 250,000 of its patented plastic pink flamingos a year in addition to other garden products.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Just damn material.
Big in Parma, Ohio
Stardate, 3032 .. rare, antique plastic pink flamingo was sold at Chisty's yesterday for the unprecedented price of $365,000,000,000.00 just edging out as the all-time highest sale of a working 8 track, tape music device.
Best BB gun target my parents ever bought. Saved my eye.
I've always wondered how they generated so much demand and this was in northern Michigan.
There is a cool school promotion some schools opted for instead of kids going door to door selling candy etc. For maybe $5 you could get a pink flamingo put in someone's yard. Or you could buy flamingo insurance to keep from getting one put in your yard. Pretty neat seeing pink flamingos all over town.
LOL!
If "pink" flamingos were to be made in "Red" China, would "pink" be significant?
Ruh roh. The ony way I got the Big Mew to toss his was by telling him they'd gotten too ratty and we needed to get new ones.
I'm just shocked that a MA company with the catchy name of "Union Products" has run into economic difficulties. Bet they never saw it coming.
In our little town of Farmers Branch, TX, formerly famous for various proposals aimed at outlawing illegal immigrant citizens, we are now looking at limiting the number of planter pots that can be kept in front yards. No mention of pink flamingos yet, though.
Makes me want to get a couple of them for nostalgia's sake (for the BACK yard of course). Houston radio talk host Jon Matthews used to say he had a pair of pink flamingoes in a suitcase - an emergency anti-Homeowners Association kit.
You can have mine.
My Mother-in-law bought them for me when my Husband and I were first stationed in Florida several years ago. They were only displayed once when she came to visit.
lol
Not surprised. I guess the company had been precariously balanced on one leg for a number of years...
LOL!
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