Haley Sweetland Edwards
Queen of Kitsch: A Brief History of the Plastic Pink Flamingo
by Haley Sweetland Edwards - June 28, 2011 - 1:55 PM

With the season of backyard barbecues upon us, we thought you could use a history lesson on everyone’s favorite lawn ornament. From the plastic bird’s birth to its modern perch atop the pyramid of campy Americana, here’s the quick-and-dirty on the hot pink queen of kitsch.

The Birth of a National Icon

© Seth Resnick/Science Faction/Corbis

Perhaps not shockingly, the pink flamingo lawn ornament was invented in the same decade that polyester pants, pink washing machines, vinyl wallpaper and Naugahyde lounge chairs were cool. Flamingo fans worldwide owe their thanks to a man named Don Featherstone (pictured), a one-time employee of a plastics company called Union Products, who designed the first pink flamingo lawn ornament in 1957.

When they first hit stores, the blushing birds cost $2.76 a pair and were an immediate hit in working-class subdivisions from the Redwood Forest to the Gulfstream waters. This bird was made for you and me.

A (Brief) Fall from Grace

The 1960s were a decade of backlash against conformity, false experience, and all things Parental—including, evidently, Mom and Dad’s lawn décor. Hippies rallied against the plastics industry, cultural critics chastised all things “un-natural,” and home and garden magazines pleaded with people to abandon the gnomes, lawn jockeys and flamingos of yesteryear in favor of classier, more natural yard décor. By 1970, even Sears had stopped selling the pink flamingo, replacing the gaping hole in their garden department with natural-looking fountains and rocks, according to the historian Jennifer Price. Her book, Flight Maps (Basic Books, 1999), has a chapter on the plastic flamingo. It’s a must-read for flamingo aficionados.

And She’s Back!

Happily for flamingo fans, the ‘70s were a carnival of schlock, and by the early part of the decade, the pink flamingo had become so un-cool, it was cool again—this time as a self-conscious symbol of rebellion, outrageousness and all things Bad Taste. By the time John Waters’ movie, Pink Flamingos, hit theaters in 1972, the bird had fully transitioned to the realm of ironic kitsch. Gay bars used them as mascots, transvestites sported them on earrings and platform pumps, and in 1979, students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison planted 1,008 of the two-legged creatures in the grass in front of the dean’s office, earning them—and the bird—a place in Wisconsin’s State Historical Society.

Pink is the New Art

By the 1980s, the pink flamingo had made the ultimate giant leap for mankind: it had, like Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup cans, become art. In 1987, the governor of Massachusetts proclaimed the plastic bird “an essential contribution to American folk art,” Price wrote, and new clubs like the Flamingo Fanciers of America and the International Society for the Preservation of Pink Lawn Flamingos sprang into existence in time to celebrate the bird’s thirtieth birthday. In 1998, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles began to sell plastic pink flamingos in its bookstore for $19 a set.

Long Live the Queen of Camp

In 2009, in honor of the students’ 1979 prank, the Madison, Wisconsin, city council named the plastic pink flamingo the official bird of the city. And the esteemed lawn ornament lives on in Americana infamy, lending its name to bars, restaurants, casinos and hotels from sea to shining sea. The birds currently go for about $16 a set online.

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Comments (31)

  1. The middle school in my town (Herrin, Illinois) will “flock” an unsuspecting business or residence with a flock of pink flamingoes. It’s a sight to see, and everyone gets a laugh from it, even the unsuspecting victim.

    posted by Gordon Daily on 6-28-2011 at 2:07 pm

  2. My boss RECENTLY had one of my coworkers track down about a dozen pink flamingos to “decorate” the lawn in front of one of the apartment buildings we manage. To him (a child of the 50′s), I guess they are attractive; to me, they’re associated with John Waters. Hardly the image I’d choose to promote our business.

    posted by Anonymous on 6-28-2011 at 2:08 pm

  3. They are $10 at my local dollar store. I bought 2 sets and i love them.

    posted by megaroo on 6-28-2011 at 2:09 pm

  4. Some have decided to turn them into a beer-bong
    http://www.flabongo.com/

    posted by Lee Hart on 6-28-2011 at 2:32 pm

  5. What, no commentary on how the city of Baltimore has embraced them? I mean, they’re the bird city — Ravens, Orioles, Flamingos …

    posted by Monica on 6-28-2011 at 2:38 pm

  6. Ugh I never got the appeal of flamingos, gnomes, those concrete geese with clothes…any lawn ornament for that matter. I know, what a downer I am – no fun at all. I just can’t stand ‘em!

    posted by Katie Rose on 6-28-2011 at 2:49 pm

  7. They’re pretty popular in my hometown as a fundraising item. People will get “flocked” overnight by a local group. They either have to keep them up for 72 hours, or they can “donate” $10 to have them moved to somebody else’s lawn. To have someone targeted, it’s a $10 “donation” as well.

    It’s revealed some pretty big neighborhood rivalries…

    posted by Steph on 6-28-2011 at 3:15 pm

  8. Has anyone seen the neon ones in Sierra Madre CA? They’re the talk of the town! Speakin’ of kitchy…!

    posted by JanT on 6-28-2011 at 5:13 pm

  9. Monica: I agree with you about Baltimore.

    I live in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore where the pink flamingo is king. Houses here proudly display all things flamingo. It makes for a fun, kitschy atmosphere. One of the restaurants in Hampden even has a giant pink flamingo adorning the front. And John Waters frequents the neighborhood, so it’s no surprise that he, pink flamingos, and Baltimore are so intertwined.

    posted by Kelsey on 6-28-2011 at 6:14 pm

  10. Read all about a tougher version (still with no sharp edges) in “Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos” by Donna Andrews.

    posted by Paul on 6-28-2011 at 8:11 pm

  11. My high school senior class fundraiser for our Senior Celebration (big party the night of graduation) was flocking. We woke up to dozens of them in our front yard. My baby sister (who was 2 or 3 at the time) was really upset when her “pink ‘mingos” were gone two days later.

    posted by Mary on 6-28-2011 at 9:00 pm

  12. My friend in Florida loves these. I’m not even sure she’s being ironic about it.

    Go figure. My take is that people get to put whatever on their lawn that makes them happy, and it’s almost moronic to have an ‘opinion’ about other people’s taste or preferences.

    Still, I love these:

    http://www.sugarpost.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29816

    posted by sroz on 6-28-2011 at 9:05 pm

  13. is it weird that i ALWAYS wanted to know this?! Thank you mental floss!

    posted by Lily on 6-28-2011 at 9:21 pm

  14. How could you not mention the original manufacturer (Union Products) went out of business in 2006? Lucky for tacky lawn ornament lovers the original molds were purchased and another company makes them now.

    posted by nihil on 6-28-2011 at 10:37 pm

  15. I remember reading that there were more pink flamingo lawn ornaments in any given state than real ones in the world

    posted by Stephen on 6-28-2011 at 10:40 pm

  16. Even though these plastic birds are associated with Florida – the inventor is from, and still lives in, Massachusetts.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Featherstone_(artist)

    posted by Leslie on 6-29-2011 at 12:01 am

  17. It’s common for the upper middle class suburban set in my regional district to flock their friends on special birthdays, 30, 39, 40, 50. There’s usually a buzzard thrown in for extra fun!

    posted by Mare on 6-29-2011 at 7:10 am

  18. Here’s the archive about the UW-Madison’s senior prank back in 1979; there is even a picture to boot! Enjoy!

    posted by Val on 6-29-2011 at 11:00 am

  19. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001660.asp

    posted by Val on 6-29-2011 at 11:00 am

  20. I didn’t know about flocking, but it sure explains the times in my area I suddenly see a flock in someone’s yard, only to see it gone in a few days to reappear elsewhere.

    posted by Wayne Stevens on 6-29-2011 at 11:44 am

  21. My Neighbor got “flocked” last year as a fund raiser for the school’s project graduation. Of course since she is a (I can’t asy the word here but it starts with a B) she did not see the humor and complained to the board of education who then canceled the whole fund raiser.

    What a buzz kill. Boo bad neighbor.

    posted by the Neighbor on 6-29-2011 at 1:03 pm

  22. They’re funny, but I don’t think I’d put plastic flamingos on my lawn. If I had one.

    posted by Joe on 6-29-2011 at 1:36 pm

  23. How ironic that the guy’s name is Featherstone! Fits right in with the article from a couple weeks ago. I read years ago one of the people responsible for the U of W flamingo flocking was none other than Jim Mallon, producer of MST3K.

    posted by Amanda on 6-29-2011 at 2:37 pm

  24. I love it!! What a fun bit of history!

    posted by Jen on 6-29-2011 at 6:06 pm

  25. Fun fact: the flamingo in the recent film Gnomeo & Juliet was named Featherstone.

    posted by Stu on 6-29-2011 at 8:05 pm

  26. I don’t have any of the pink ones but I do have two glow in the dark skeletal flamingos I keep them in my windows

    posted by Jan D on 6-30-2011 at 8:57 pm

  27. I heard that the guy that came up with these is a multi-millionaire.

    posted by ruler777 on 7-1-2011 at 8:18 am

  28. And for Halloween:

    Skelemingos!

    http://www.amazon.com/Dottie-Grim-Designs-Skelemingos-Version/dp/B002M4G8QC

    posted by nick on 8-29-2011 at 1:24 pm

  29. The town of Southwest Harbor, Maine (not far from Acadia National Park) holds a Flamingo Festival every summer, and town is littered with plastic flamingos for the entire weekend. Read about it here: http://www.harborhousemdi.org/index.php/events/flamingo-festival.

    posted by Steve on 10-6-2011 at 4:32 pm

  30. I have always loved flamingos and the second I have a yard to call my own, at least two of these will be planted in it!

    posted by SarahMarie on 1-6-2012 at 10:10 am

  31. This is why I love my state. xD

    posted by Julia on 1-23-2012 at 5:19 pm

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