15.3.12

hula hoops

The name "hula hoop" came from the Hawaiian dance its users seemed to imitate.
Wham-O (the original manufacturers) sold 25 million hula hoops in two months. Almost 100 million international orders followed. They were manufacturing 20,000 hoops a day at the peak of popularity.

Not all nations thought this was such a spiffy idea. Japan banned the hoops thinking they might promote improprieties. The Soviet Union said the hula hoop was an example of the "emptiness of American culture." Well, okay, maybe they had a point there.

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