Pull Flip Drink

Pull - Flip - Drink

By 1985 the ring like object in the photo may be  recognized as a defunct and destructive soda can tab from the early to mid 60’s that caused health issues from accidental swallowing (advertisements suggested to drop the no longer attached tab inside the filled beverage can) to sliced fingers from the sharp edges during the pop off stage. By the 90’s it was regarded with disdain by a generation that understood that it’s only function was to clog landfills and create excess trash on sidewalks and streets from an earlier generation who had little respect  for their environment

But does the young generation of disdain understand the young generation of the 1960’s? The first flip-off tab soda can  revolutionized drinking beverages that today is hard to imagine. In 1967 I would wait a whole lunch period for the “lunch lady” to come to my table to open the can of soda my parents sent me to school with. The long wait, the lack of control to drink my own beverage on my time, and watching a few privileged kids (whose parents could afford the high price of this invention) pop open their own cans was humiliating. By the time flip-top tabs were the only available can in the supermarket my family had no choice but to switch over. By then a newer invention to counteract the crimes of the flip-tab was on its way to every home in the US.

In a world today where the word sustainability is in every 5 years old’s vocabulary it was not a word used often or by anyone I knew while I was growing up. Gum wrappers and soda tabs were strictly for the street. This way my girlfriends and I would have something important to do on the weekends; collect enough tabs to make belts, necklaces and even shoulder straps for our “up-cycled” collaged lunch pail purses. Looking back, we were ahead of the up-cycling curve, but there was no self -reflection on the impact we had of cleaning up our streets.

Aside from soft drinks being unhealthy, the flip top invention came a long way and hopefully there are now less swallowing accidents, for those who cannot resist this ultra- sweet drink. I find myself on rare occasions playing with a tab until it is broken off from the top only to find the flap is not there to bend and to make a pair of earrings.

Some things never change!