DisConnect: The Pink Flamingo Is Extinct

As connoisseurs of kitsch, The Operator was saddened to read an article in the New York Times announcing the demise of the Pink Flamingo lawn ornament, perhaps the most recognizable symbol of fabulous vulgarity. According to Jenny Price:

"On Nov. 1, just two months shy of its 50th birthday, the plastic pink flamingo went extinct. Or more accurately, it stopped reproducing, when its manufacturer, Union Products, shut down the factory in Leominster, Mass.
That’s sad news, but hardly surprising. The flamingo’s glory days were behind it. Union Products cited the rising cost of plastic resins and of electricity, along with financing woes. Yet while the bird reigned as an icon in the late 20th century, it was bound to succumb to the very different tastes — or the absence thereof — in the 21st.

After 30 years of assaults on the cultural barricades, kitsch had become high art, and bad taste had become thoroughly acceptable."

Read the full article here.

We're so distraught we've been sitting on our inflatable couch all day,drinking gimlets out of our Hula girl tumbler, making macrame and dialing friends on our Princess phone.

After the jump, a collection of Pink Flamingo images.

In the Pink No More [NY Times]

Lawn Ornaments ;Kitsch ;Pink Flamingos