Why Does America Love The Pink Flamingo? | Hobbies

By RickLondon
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Little did the tiny factory, Union Products of Lemnister, Ma. know they were "creating a monster" when they decided the pink flamingo might be a nice yard ornament. This was in the mid-1940's. The pink flamingo as a collectible is stronger today than ever.

The big sellers in Union's early days were their two dimensional dogs, ducks and other plastic animals that were placed in the front yard of homes. The pink flamingo would come later.

Union's products were were nice, but not really known to be exciting or have "life" to them. Sales were not great. So Union recruited a serious art student who worked at Union named Don Featherston, Although the young man was a serious sculptor and classical art student, his first project was to redesign their popular duck, which did not excite him, and this time make it 3-dimensional The company figured it would be a bigger seller. The company was wrong and the 3d duck ended up in the local park. He had used a live duck as a model but it was a loser. He then figured people wanted color glitz. Pink Flamingos had to be the answer, but he could not find a live one for a model. National Geographic didn't either but had plenty of pictures in their library.

Using clay, he built his prototype, and later a plaster cast from the clay model. The plaster cast, in turn, was used to form the molds for the plastic. The original design called for detailed wooden legs, but they proved to be too costly and were replaced by the metal ones still seen today. While the exact date was never known, the first pink flamingo was created sometime in 1957, most experts believe. And that year was perfect timing for the flamingo. The American population was moving out of the city and behind white picket fence lawns, a perfect resting place for the big pink bird. The late 1950's fashion trends were bright, bold colors. Grays and blacks were the "colors of the bland 1950's and people were ready for a change.

The plastic industry was thriving and now allowed for hot colors like bright green, vivid ruby, and, of course, hot flamingo pink. Pink refrigerators, washing machines, and of course who didn't want a pink Caddie? The love of the pink flamingo was short-lived due to timing. The 1960's was a time of rebellion, especially against anything man-made, and the plastic flamingo was certainly not heaven-sent (though many serious collectors still consider it so). All the major department stores, (Sears being the biggest back the time) banished the items from their shelves due to poor sales.

Collectors were only temporarly discouraged and found them at flea markets and niche stores. Many collectors are still very serious about the pink flamingo and go so far as to travel with them. We all know that what is art to one person is garbage to the next. Bans have been placed on pink flamingos all over the country. As a result, Union Plastics was forced to introduce a blue flamingo to work inside the laws of city ordinances. But the angry anti-flamingo-for-yard-art communies changed the laws to ban all plastic flamingos. Many residents refused to obey the obey this law which has rarely been enforced in most towns that have it.

Even in 2008, flamingo collectibles are are some of the most desirable for hobbyists around the country, and the Internet is where the majority of the shopping is done, saving collectors large amounts of money from having to travel to find their beloved bird. Now they are available on everything from day planners to mousepads to to hoodies to track suits., all valuable and desirable collectibles (for those who love them that is and it appears the population is explosive of pink flamingo lovers).

About the Author

Cartoonist and e-store owner Rick London and e-store owner runs several stores that sales a large variety of rare brand new pink flamingo gifts America's Favorite Collectible: The Pink Flamingo, and

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