Wednesday, 29 July 2009

• Lapel Pins

  Lapel pins have been around for a while now but in the last 10 years or so we’ve been seeing more and more them. Are they going to hang around for good or are they just a craze?
  
  In thinking about where they’ll be in the future it’s probably helpful to look at where the use of lapel pins started out and perhaps surprisingly that is within the military. During first the Civil War and then in the First and Second World Wars pins were used to help identify troops according to unit and branch of the military. Later they came to be more concerned with recognizing those who performed above and beyond the call of duty. This created a strong connection between lapel pins and feelings of belonging and purpose.
  
  Hence, when pins began to be used more and more in the public life the same notions of belonging followed with them. If you wore a Democratic pin it showed your allegiance to that party and your support for it. Similarly following the attacks of September 11 the wearing of a stars and stripes pin showed support for your countrymen in need and also a sense of pride in the nation.
  
  With such strong emotion being carried with these pins it is certainly understandable why they have survived for so long and served such different agendas but why is it that now, in an age of stickers, t-shirts and the like that they continue to hang around?
  
  The fundamental reason is that whilst there are a host of different ways for people to express their views, the pin has the great market position of just being incredibly simple and understated. For example if you’re a businessman you can hardly wear a “Go Bears” T-shirt to work, but a pin you might just be able to get away with. Similarly a student might not want to shout to the world that he is a communist but the wearing of a badge lets those who know the pin know what he believes in.
  
  And I think that is what sort of sums up the pins, they started off to show belonging and in an age where there are so many ostentatious symbols, a simple pin says more than anything else and does it without screaming down people’s throats.
  
  

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• Hey everyone... I am a lapel pin addict and avid collector.
  
  I will be talking about some of the lapel pin information here. Thanks!

  • 12:19 PM
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