Who knew Miss America has a fascination for all things sticky? 2011 beauty pageant 'queen' Teresa Scanlan has a dream to be associated with tape over tiaras--expressing her desire to be crowned 'Miss Duct Tape', in a home improvement product association that's sure to have guys drooling.
The youngest Miss America in nearly a century -- just 17 years old when she won the crown months ago -- has a true wish to be crowned the first-ever "Miss Duct Tape" in the 8th Annual Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival that coincides with Father's Day on June 17-19. The Avon, Ohio celebration -- of what may be argued as one of the world's best inventions -- includes parade floats, fashion shows, sculptures and the inclusion of 40,000 duct-tape aficionados from across the nation.
As it turns out, Miss America herself is one of duct tape's most enthusiastic fans: “People think I’m being facetious," says Teresa Scanlan, "but being invited to attend the [Avon] Duct Tape Festival is a dream come true,” according to the 2011, 18-year-old, Miss America.
The beauty pageant winner believes duct tape is "the greatest invention ever." Scanlan says: If I was ever on a deserted island and only allowed to take one thing, I’d take duct tape. You can hunt with it, fish with it, build with it, use it to decorate your hut and make stylish clothes. I’ve used it to make a roll-up bag for all my brushes.”
Since its invention, branded and non-branded forms of duct tape have been used to remove warts, bind broken helicopter rotors and has even proven instrumental in saving the lives of astronauts in 1970.
The NASA program considers duct tape an incredible tool -- choosing to include a roll on every flight that flies from the launchpad. Duct Tape has saved lives and equipment in space. On the Apollo 13 flight, where three astronauts were in danger, the sticky tool helped save lives: Duct tape was used on Apollo 13 to convert a CO2 filter, allowing astronauts to breathe during the return flight back to earth in the damaged aircraft. After the incident, crew member Ed Smylie says he was assured of safety after finding out duct tape had been included in the on-board tool kit. “One thing a Southern boy will never say is, ‘I don’t think duct tape will fix it,’ ” Smylie was quoted in 2005.
Duct tape has also proven use in other recent applications -- some good promotions for the product while others, not so much. On the upside, Apple may consider the idea that duct tape helped keep a PR nightmare out of the spotlight -- for at least a few days -- when iPhone 4 consumers discovered their own workaround to the device's antenna issues earlier this year in 2011. Consumer Reports helped pump what became the famous iPhone “fix”: a wrapped piece of duct tape or "other thick, non-conducive material [placed] over the antenna gap" in order for Apple consumers to solve the antenna problem themselves.
While Apple consumers received the emergency aid of duct tape "services", a young mother and her boyfriend were discovered to be using the product in a much more devious way: A Nebraska mother was charged with literally duct-taping her own 22-month-old boy to a wall for entertainment and "fun" after some alleged drug use. The boy's mother spent just 10 short days in jail before being reunited with the child. Photos showed the toddler with his hands taped shut in green duct tape, the woman's boyfriend instructing the boy to raise his middle finger from taped hands.
Much of the nation may not be aware that duct tape fans gather, in full force, every year to celebrate the tool's existence. Fans will arrive to Avon, Ohio, for three days between June 17 and June 19 at the site where Duck Tape is made. The Duck Tape brand is arguably the most well-known, and elite, brand of duct tape -- best known by its cartoonish-looking duck logo. Produced by ShurTech, a company with roughly 350 employees that is based in the Cleveland suburb of Avon, Duck Tape apparently organizes one heck of a festival for fans.
The Duck Tape brand's got some serious backing: About 4 million Facebook fans and counting claim the cloth-backed super adhesive is incredible in its flexibility and use -- as a tool to repair nearly anything and be used in industrial applications, or even in creative uses like designing fashionable prom wear.
Tim Nyberg and brother-in-law Jim Berg play the role of the "Duct Tape Guys" at home improvement shows -- the pair responsible for selling more than 3 million duct tape-related books and calendars in just over 15 years, since 1994. And the Duct Tape Guys rank the Avon-based Duct Tape Parade as one major event: “It’s like the Rose Parade except instead of roses the floats are all made out of duct tape,” says Nyberg. “We all know someone who thinks he or she can fix anything with duct tape and this is the weekend they all go to Avon.”
So what does a beauty pageant winner have to do with the ultimate fix-it or do-it-yourself aid? The 18-year-old Miss America says she saw a news story, when she was a young girl, about prom dresses made of duct tape. The beauty queen claims instant enchantment with the product, when she began designing duct-tape clothes, making duct-tape crafts and even reading books about duct tape.
That's about the time Scanlan was tossed into the public school system in Gering, Nebraska, during high school -- and after being home-schooled previously, until her junior year. In public school her duct tape admiration came out for the first time, to mixed reviews: “I started mingling with public school kids and told them all about how much I loved duct tape,” the 2011 Miss America says. “They thought I was insane.”
But Scanlan says duct tape helped her build character as a teen, stating the sticky tool made her understand it was alright to be unique: Scanlan says, “It's taught me it’s OK to be different. The cool kids were all in sports. But I did what I loved and what I was good at and that gave me the confidence to continue in the performing arts.”
When Scanlan was asked onstage, at the 2011 Miss America pageant, about what made her different, the new queen gushed about her love for duct tape. That's when Duck Tape saw its opportunity, in a world that doesn't often combine the ultimate representation of beauty with home improvement.
Ohio's annual Duct Tape Festival organizer and ShurTech Brands spokesperson Patti Sack says: “We were thrilled" about Miss America's admiration for the product. To follow up the pageant winner's announcement, Duck Tape sent the newest Miss America its own version of a winning sash: a Duck Tape version of a "bouquet" of red, white and blue roses, all made from the sticky stuff. The sash recipient seemed more than flattered by the Duck Tape gift: Scanlan immediately issued an unexpected response: “Rules stipulate I can only be Miss America for one year but I’m hoping maybe I can become 'Miss Duct Tape' for eternity!”
It's not often a company is faced with a spokesperson -- and a stunning one at that -- for which it has no role. It appears Duck Tape better get on the ball: one of the nation's most beautiful women wants to represent the company, but it doesn't quite have a current slot: “Actually, we’ve never had a Miss Duct Tape,” says Shur Tech's Patti Sack. But not to fear: A smart company never rules out a brilliant connection and they'll surely find a way to make that connection stick.