Oh, beloved pink plastic flamingo could your end be in sight? The iconic lawn ornament may be soon be singing its swan song after years being celebrated as a tribute to one of nature’s most graceful creatures then upheld as the epitome of American pop culture kitsch.
According Union Products Inc., the company which manufactured the plastic birds, production stopped on the pink icons and other lawn ornaments in June, and is going out of business November 1st — a victim of financial problems. According to news reports, the small privately held firm has been in talks with a pair of rival lawn ornament makers interested in buying the molds and resuming production of the flamingos, so there is a possibility the birds will live on.
But the uncertainty surrounding the original has collectors snapping up what the flamingos on various online auction sites, including eBay where there is a bidding war brewing over what is left of the regular pink ones, and gold-colored special issue flamingos commemorating the bird’s upcoming 50th birthday.
Fifty years old… can you believe it? Historians note that the first ornaments hit the market in the late 1950s when the color pink was in vogue, and American’s who had just bought their own piece of suburbia wanted to add flair to their lawns. But it didn’t take long for the birds to morph into a symbol of bad taste. They became the namesake of the highly controversial, and what some called “perverse” 1972 John Waters film “Pink Flamingos,” which led some communities to ban flamingo ornaments from lawns.
In the years that followed, the flamingo became a target of pranksters, some of whom swiped the ornaments from front yards, took them on the road, and then sent photos to their owners showing the kidnapped birds in front of sights like Paris’ Eiffel Tower. Then the 80s rolled around and the pink flamingo enjoyed a resurgence with the popularity of the television show “Miami Vice,” whose opening credits featured images of real birds. Today, the flamingo image is found on everything from doormats to swizzle sticks to roadside motel signs.
Do you have a pink flamingo in your yard? Don’t be ashamed to admit it. Heck, you could make a fortune auctioning off on eBay.