Silly Bandz: a silly fad

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article about the latest teen — and not-so-teen — fad, something called Silly Bandz. They’re thin rubber bracelets that come in all different shapes. And not just triangles and stars — these things come in actual crazy shapes, everything from body parts to dinosaurs to fruit to Disney princesses.

I thought it was so silly — why would anyone over the age of 8 like wearing a rubber alphabet? But it’s not just for kids. After I heard about them, I started noticing them.

They’re thin and unobtrusive, but I still found one on a friend’s wrist. When I arrived home on Friday, my sisters, who are in middle school and high school, both had them and were trading with my 5-year-old cousin.

Silly Bandz will snap back to their original shape after you take them off your wrist, but while they’re on, they look weird because they retain the crazy curves and angles of the giraffes and dollar signs they used to resemble.

Niftier than the plain old circular rubber bracelets I wore when I was younger?

Sure — when you’re not wearing them.

The bracelets are everywhere. Not only can you order 24-packs on the Silly Bandz website, but you can also find them in grocery stores, drug stores, and Borders. Silly Bandz even has a Facebook page. (Then again, who doesn’t these days?) Kids get the themed packs and trade them around with their friends.

It amazes me that they’re even popular with college-aged kids. The Harry Potter franchise aside, what’s cool with the little kids isn’t usually cool with the big kids. And yet, they’re everywhere. Now that I know what they are, I see them all the time.

Will they die out before we get back to school in the fall? Probably — again, Harry Potter aside, these sorts of trends don’t last too long, and I don’t see a big future for rubber bracelets shaped like feet. But even if they do go the way of Furby and Beanie Babies rather quickly, I wouldn’t mind being the person who invented them — something that big has to be pretty lucrative.

I just don’t get what makes them so popular with the older crowd.

College kids are old enough to wear real bracelets to class (or at least hair ties on wrists). Maybe it’s trying to recapture a part of our youth, especially since the end is approaching far too quickly. Maybe it’s just silly fun (and since I put a Silly Bandz nose over my nose last night trying to get my cousin to laugh, I probably don’t have a leg to stand on there).

That’s not to say it’s something I particularly want to spend my time and money on — I think they look silly on older people, especially since they’re in crinkled, stretched shapes when they’re on peoples’ wrists. They only become fun shapes when you take them off to show your friends, and what’s the point of wearing a bracelet that’s more fun when it’s off?


E-mail: hanns@indiana.edu