behold the one red thing in a beige world
STAPLES FIRED: 0
Whack it!
In Office Space (1999), Milton has exactly one source of joy in the office which is his red Swingline stapler. As the company slowly erases him shuffling his desk, shrinking his space, banishing him to the basement he clings to that one red object.
The stapler isn’t really about stationery. It’s about owning one small thing in a place built to make you interchangeable.
When the film was shot, you couldn’t buy a red Swingline 747. Swingline only made boring grey and blue. On set, the standard stapler vanished into the walls, so the prop team drove a regular 747 to an auto-body shop and had it sprayed bright red, slapped on a vinyl logo, and made about ten of them.
Then the movie became a cult classic and fans wanted the stapler that wasn’t real. People bought grey ones and painted them in their garages. Swingline caved and released an official “Rio Red” 747 in July 2002 and red became one of its best-selling colours ever.
Management would like to discuss your pieces of flair.
Yeahhh… we’re gonna need you to read this.