Here's a quick check on how out of touch you may or may not be with the current generation of teens: Duck Tape is, Alaska Dispatch has learned, uber cool.
For Alaskans who pride themselves on survival know how and solve-any-problem resolve, the sticky cloth-based strips are a household must-have. It can repair people and planes alike after bear maulings, fix torn tents, protect marathon runners from blisters and snow machine racers from frost bite.
Far above Alaska, duct tape has proved useful in space. Once, it helped fix the fender on a NASA moon buggy after the vehicle hit a rock. And on the International Space Station, it's a must-have cooking tool.
There's no arguing the tape is useful. But cool?
"Everybody loves Duck Tape," said Patti Sack, Assistant Communications Manager for ShurTech Brands, LLC, the company that manufactures Duck Brand duct tape.
As modern generations often do, Duck Tape is reinventing itself. It's bolder. More colorful. Even exotic. The new look is a purposeful attempt to tap into the inner callings of teens and young adults: creativity and a desire to stand out as an individual. Which is why, for now, the company is placing its first-ever round of print ads exclusively in teen magazines like Tiger Beat, Seventeen and Twist.
"Roll out the summer fun with Duck Tape," beckons a bright green ad in this month's Tiger Beat, adjacent to an inset on teen heart throb Justin Bieber. "From beach bags to flip flops, you can create almost anything with Duck brand duct tape."
If you have a hard time imagining a teenage girl fawning over the iconic silvery grey tape, you're thinking about the old Duck Tape, not its modern incarnations. Zebra and leopard prints, color splatter and tie dye versions, camouflage and other themes now grace store shelves.
"They just love it," Sack said of Duck Tape's teenage fan base. With 4 million fans on Facebook, it's more popular than Sarah Palin but trailing Oprah -- and nowhere close to Bieber, with his 29 million fans.
Not so stuck on Alaska
While teens are busy making prom dresses, tote bags and purses, bracelets, wallets, book covers, flowers and other crafts out of duct tape, they appear to be discovering what Alaskans have known for years: duct tape can fix anything.
It's why, in 2003 and with Wasilla's mayor at the time, Sarah Palin cutting an honorary duct tape ribbon, Wasilla became the duct tape capital of the world when the town's Wal-Mart was said to have sold more of the tape than any other Wal-Mart in the world.
It's also why, when a pilot used duct tape to re-build and fly home a plane torn apart by a menacing bear, the story went viral -- a testament to the "is this really to be believed" quality of the tale that legends are made of. (It's true, by the way. Duct tape did indeed save the day.)
Alaskans are so fond of duct tape, that we've even created an entire gala dedicated to the sticky stuff -- the annual Duct Tape Ball.
So why was the Last Frontier missing from a new line of Duck Tape featuring state colleges and Universities? There are schools from Alabama, Arizona and Arkansas. But in the roster of the 27 college prints now available, no Alaska schools made the cut.
"Nothing personal Alaska," Sack said when asked why the state that lives and survives with duct tape didn't get represented. "It's probably in our sights. We're continuously adding new schools to the roster."
The possibilities for Alaska-related prints seem as endless as the uses for duct tape itself: moose nugget brown, salmon scales, bear tracks, and in the spirit of national political trends -- reprints of the constitution.
In fact, Duck Tape gets requests "all the time" for branding -- whether it's for schools or even dreamy teen singers, Sack said.
She's even had a 6-year-old girl ask for tape with Justin Bieber on it. There's a good chance this idea and plenty of others will turn up at Avon, Ohio's upcoming three-day Duct Tape Festival.
Duck Tape (and duct tape) save the day
So is it duct tape or Duck (as in the bird) Tape? Both are correct. Decades ago, when the tape was first invented, it was called "duck tape," a reference to its water repellent qualities. But later, after people discovered its use with heat and air ducts, it became known as "duct tape." You're fine saying it either way, although duct tape appears to be the more common term, with Duck a specific brand (think of Kleenex brand tissue). Read more here.
Ask just about anyone you know -- tweener, teen, carpenter, pilot, hunter, fisherman, climber, runner, backpacker -- and they're likely to have a story about how they've put duct tape to use in expected and unexpected ways. Which is why, soon, ShurTech will launch a "Duck Tape Saves the Day" blog where people can send in photos and their own duct tape story.
"Everybody has a story about duct tape," Sack said.
Have your own remarkable story involving duct tape? Use the comment feature below to tell us how you've put it to use.
Contact Jill Burke at jill(at)alaskadispatch.com