Picture a backyard in summer. A cooler. A folding table. A stack of red plastic cups.
You know the cup. Everybody knows the cup.
It is so recognizable that movies use it as shorthand for an American party. Songs have been written about it. Foreign tourists buy them as souvenirs.
Gif by themenzingers on Giphy
Which is genuinely strange, because it is a disposable cup that costs a few cents and gets thrown away within an hour.
How does something that cheap become a cultural object? And how does anyone make real money selling it, when a cup is about as commodity a product as exists?
The answers turn out to be more interesting than the cup deserves.
Come with me.