The story begins with a report from Tabor, South Dakota, and describes the place of the red Solo cup in American culture. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
The red Solo cup is not just a piece of tableware but a symbol of the American psyche. It is closely tied to the nation's festive traditions, summer barbecues, keg parties, tailgating, and the values of friendship and community.
This cup is the foundation for beer pong, a vessel for public drinking, and even a spittoon. It survives countless top-rack cycles in the dishwasher and serves as a reusable household cup. Sharpie name inscriptions are its universal language, along with condensation from an ice-cold drink.
Its backdrops include campgrounds, block parties, parks, tailgates, keggers, and county fairs.
The Chicago-based Solo Company originally made coned paper cups for water coolers. In the 1970s, it was modified to plastic and patented in the year of America's 200th birthday. It grew into a massive disposable foodware company and was sold for about $1 billion to Dart Container Corp. in 2012.
You can trace many plot points of the country's last 80 years with the cup, starting with the advent of a postwar office culture and now-iconic water coolers. Advertising and marketing allowed this mass-produced plastic cup to become an American household and party mainstay. Later, it fueled college drinking traditions and a tailgate culture that is practically a business unto itself.
The cup achieved a new level of status after country star Toby Keith recorded a song about it in 2011. The first verse includes "barbecues, tailgates, fairs and festivals." The chorus goes: "Red Solo cup/I fill you up/Let's have a party."
This material is part of the "American Objects" series by Associated Press.