Keychains can have many uses. They can be used to hold your keys, of course. But as previous posts on this blog have shown, they can also serve other purposes. They can be used to remember a special vacation, or to give you a glimpse of a destination that you've never seen in person. They can be used to remember the special people in your life, either because a certain person gave you the keychain or because something about the keychain makes you think of that person. Keychains can also be used to advertise your interests, your fan loyalties, your heritage or your hometown pride. In other words, keychains can be used to send a message. And that's the topic of today's post - keychains with messages on them.
These keychains have a lot in common with bumper stickers, or the more modern equivalent of bumper stickers - car magnets. Like bumper stickers and car magnets, these keychains have something to say. They can be funny, snarky, or inspirational. They can use humor to get their message across, or they can play it straight. They can also cover a broad range of topics, such as social trends, gender, politics, religion, the list goes on and on. However, the primary purpose of these 'message' keychains seems to be to reflect the keychain owner's personality.
Judging by their identifying marks, the majority of the 'message' keychains in my personal collection have come from the following three companies: Laugh Tracks, Kalan, or RPP Inc. My online research was unable to dig up any information on Laugh Tracks, and the only somewhat relevant reference source I could find for RPP Inc. was a photo archive on a Button Museum website showcasing some 'button' style pins that RPP Inc. produced. Kalan, however, is still in business, specializing in "trendsetting" novelty and gift items.
As I started organizing my keychains by company for photos, I decided to see if I could pick out any patterns in the types of messages used by the different manufacturers. I eventually realized that any patterns I did notice wouldn't necessarily tell me anything, since the only 'message' keychains I have in my collection are ones that fit my personal tastes. This means that my seemingly random sampling of keychains probably wasn't so random after all, and therefore wouldn't necessarily reflect the manufacturers' full product range. Still, I thought it would be fun to see what reoccurring themes might crop up in the types of 'message' keychains I'd collected over the years.
The keychains shown in the photos above are all marked Laugh Tracks. I seem to have more 'message' keychains from Laugh Tracks than I have from Kalan and RPP Inc. combined. Also, I couldn't help noticing that several of these Laugh Tracks keychains have a bit of a feminist bent.
At least half of the keychains in the Kalan product assortment above seem to reflect a rather negative attitude. I'm a bit of a pessimist by nature, so I guess that this shouldn't really surprise me.
As for these RPP Inc. keychains, two of them deal with the subject of shopping, two have messages relating to keys, and the first one in the bottom row is completely random, if you take into account that I've never lived in New York. I found that particular keychain at a discount book store years ago, and I bought it simply because I thought it was funny.
Speaking of shopping, here are some other keychains with shopping related messages. The concept of 'retail therapy' is something that I'm very familiar with.
This next set of 'message' keychains uses a different construction than what I've shown so far. I bought these at a flea market years ago, and I have no idea who made them. But I like the unique way that they're constructed. They're similar to the 'button' style pins that I mentioned earlier in this post, except that instead of pin backs, these keychains have flat metal backs.
I already mentioned in my post on "Hobbies And Fandoms" that I 'dabble in' different types of crafts. The photo below shows some keychains with messages related to crafting.
I'm going to wrap up this post with some random 'message' keychains. These examples should help give you a better idea what sort of variety is available, design-wise
Considering the broad selection of 'message' keychains that have been produced over the years, it seems to me that if there's something you want to say to the world, then chances are there's a keychain to help you say it. So here's one final message for all of you.
Signed, Treesa
