nyny

random interview and other stuff

While driving back from work tonight, I heard the most random interview ever. On NPR's "All Things Considered," host Robert Siegel interviewed the guy who invented the pink garden flamingos. It was actually pretty interesting...

They were invented in the 1950's, and have just recently (this week I think) been discontinued. As is the case with many things, unavailability begets popularity. Apparently they are now harder than ever to come by, and stores, antique museums, etc are getting flooded with calls about the little guys. It was mildly comforting to learn that the inventor didn't actually think the hideous flamingos were fashionable. Turns out he graduated from art school with an unexpected dose of business sense...he realized it's much easier and much much more lucrative to market to people with bad taste rather than people with good taste. As he put it in the interview, "There's one simple reason for that...there's more of them."

Before tonight, I had no idea what a big business those flamingos are. I usually just see them kicking it next to some sort of garden gnome or something and think nothing of it. Who knew they were so groundbreaking? It was actually an innovative design choice to make them from plastic (the inventor said he had heard plastic was the "new" material). Also, I guess there was some sort of pink kitchen/appliance craze in the 50's and early 60's, and it all started with the pink flamingos.

Anyway, this information won't change your life or anything, but it's pretty interesting nonetheless. If you'd like to listen to the interview in it's entirety (which, by the way, I doubt anyone does) you can find it on npr.org in tonight's "All Things Considered."

posted by becka @ 6:26 PM