Pineapple Day: How I Started a Global Holiday

https://startupandrew.com/posts/how-i-started-pineapple-day-holiday/

by phlowbieuq • 7 years ago

87 26 7 years ago

itcmcgrath• 7 years ago

It was 2015 when I first encountered this while working with Andrew and James. I couldn't find any online info on the origin, and the few Firebasers I asked couldn't tell me. I feel like I have closure now that it really wasn't a thing. Or, I guess it was and it really is now.

It's funny how little things can snowball.

maximente2• 7 years ago

pineapples are pretty ecologically destructive, workers are treated horribly, mondo pesticides, etc. it's an unfortunate thing to celebrate without raising awareness of this side of the story.

https://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/exploring-green/the-sour-sid...

zamadatix• 7 years ago

Something worth a million of these types of comments would be a single comment finding a topic nobody could make such a comment on. These things pretty much boil down to "don't celebrate because nothing is pure good".

crispinb2• 7 years ago

Whereas your response pretty much boils down to "don't worry about physical reality, just lap up the self-promoting feels of the megaconsuming 1%"

Bjartr• 7 years ago

Maybe there's a compromise. Enjoy what you have, but recognize that externalities do exist rather than trying to hide from them.

DoreenMichele2• 7 years ago

Is there an agricultural industry of which you approve that treats field hands well, etc?

maximente2• 7 years ago

small farmer's cooperatives growing corn and beans were at least sustainable, but we all know how the game plan goes:

- US BigCorp (Dole mostly) starts throwing around cash to extremely poor and vulnerable populations (specifically Nicaraguan immigrants and traditional farmers in Costa Rica, where most pineapples consumed in US/EU come from); farmers get wide eyed and accept

- farmers cooperatives lose members and land, meaning value adds for things previously e.g. insurance for crop failures become unaffordable; cooperatives wane in power and shrivel up

- vicious cycle ensues: opportunities dwindle unless you're willing to be poisoned, exploited etc. at the local Dole plantation. or grow near/in Nicaragua where your stuff just gets confiscated on the way back in.

it's regrettable that my post was interpreted in the light of negative nancy style, everything is bad so no big deal, or what have you.

the increased demand for pineapples - again, consumed almost exclusively outside of Costa Rica - has had demonstrable negative impacts on Costa Rican farmers, its environment, and so forth. and, as you might have guessed, a principally US corporation makes most of the profits.

throwaway66666• 7 years ago

Cool! Did you have fun and learn a lot? Nice, thanks for sharing.

lyttlerock• 7 years ago

It's crazy how these things tend to snowball.

In some ways isn't this how cults get started? Someone picks some arbitrary and weird thing that "initiates" an individual into an exclusive club. Then you get that first follower and you're off to the races.

Personally, I'm excited for the cult of the pineapple. It's my favorite fruit.

paublyrne• 7 years ago

I haven't heard of this day, but having worked in at least one startup with a marketing department, I know that people in marketing just like people in software development love things that make their job easier on any given day, and this is more or less what pineapple day is.

skunkworker• 7 years ago

Reminds me of the other fake-but-now real holidays made up by tv shows and other groups. One example that comes to mind is Parks and Recreation making up "Galentines" day, and it's pretty much a real holiday by now.

bena• 7 years ago

Happy Festivus.

bb88• 7 years ago

Also reminds me of the quotes that Niles said to Frasier when Seattle named a day after him:

  Niles: Happy Frasier Crane Day.  Or is it Merry Frasier Crane Day, 
         I can never remember.
  Frasier: Very amusing.

  [...]

  Frasier: Oh, up late last night?
  Niles: Oh, I'm afraid so, as usual I left it till the last minute 
         to write all my Frasier Crane Day cards!

mayop1002• 7 years ago

(Pineapple Day founder here :-P)

Thanks for the love HN! Don't forget to set that calendar reminder for yourself for next June 27th! (and set to repeat annually, of course)!

markdown• 7 years ago

The only entity that benefits from this is a massive corporation. There is no benefit to individual humans or the public at large.

How do you feel about providing free marketing for Big Pineapple (Dole)?

jakob223• 7 years ago

Pineapples are fun! I for one appreciate the encouragement to purchase fruit more often

bentpins• 7 years ago

I think this holiday would be an excellent candidate for Mondayization - it's unfortunate it lands on a Saturday next year https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mondayize#English

Theodores• 7 years ago

I really like the creation myth, it is only through real life interactions such as those you describe that these things happen.

I am also a pineapple fan, I like that chemical fresh pineapple has to remove the lining from your mouth. No other food items have it and, for that reason, pineapple is up there with olives, the hemp plant and the banana in 'proving' that god was a creative fellow.

However, there is a slight problem with the current National Pineapple Day. It happens during the off-season. Pineapples take two years to grow and you get just the one rather than a tree full of the things. So I would like to suggest that Pineapple Day be on a different date to celebrate the growing season.

In Europe we generally get Costa Rica pineapples, I understand that the Philippines and Thailand supply the U.S. and other markets, with different breeds of pineapple. Late June is not where the pineapple picking action is at, the ones we get in the stores at that time of year were picked green and ripened 'banana style' by ethylene.

People in warm parts of the world can grow their own pineapples, this isn't going to happen in Norway but what if in sunnier climes you had a pineapple growing competition in a Firebase sized workplace? It would take two years of dedication to be in with a chance of winning. Some people don't stick around in a job for that long. But pineapple plants in a competition could make an interesting addition to a workplace. This would also build on the history of the pineapple, which once was a status symbol.

The day is sufficiently trivial enough for people to want to celebrate it. National New Hampshire Day is never going to be celebrated in Norway. But pineapple day? Why not?

I also don't see a website for the day. This is important, pineapple awareness is needed.

So my suggestion is to hook up with people in Costa Rica and to reposition the day to a time that suits the growing season. Get people growing their own as a team building thing, furthermore, advance the cause of the pineapple as a workplace treat that is far better than chocolate, cake and other fattening nonsense.

The repositioning of the day to something seasonal is in itself a publicity garnering thing. It gives an excuse to write to people and get them to support the cause.

We do need to fix a few things by agreement and consensus at a global level so if we can all agree on a change to a national pineapple day then who knows, we could put the nuclear weapons away too.

The national pineapple day could also be used to revive using pineapple as a textile. Clearly 'pineapple silk' lost out to actual silk and other fibres but, in an age when washing 20,000 plastic fibres from a hoodie into the ocean is no longer cool, why not use the pineapple day to revive the lost art of making fancy outfits from pineapple silk?

mayop1002• 7 years ago

Needs a website you say? I own pineappleday.org. Hit me up on Twitter if you want to help make it : )

joezydeco• 7 years ago

You can create your own national-whatever day if you talk to the right people and know about Chase's Calendar of Events.

https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor...

Or, just declare your day to be whatever you want. Nobody is checking and I don't think anybody cares.

DoreenMichele2• 7 years ago

Our recent infusion of Y Combinator investment money had enabled us to switch our diets from mooching off of my aunt and uncle to actually buying our own food at the grocery store. This was super exciting, and I was taking full advantage of this newfound freedom.

I love this bit of the article.

"I can afford groceries" + snark = accidentally founding a new holiday

illtakemychaces• 7 years ago

Ow really I never fucking heard of it.

piyush_soni• 7 years ago

Oh, by the way, it's "International post a comment on Hacker News day" today. Where's your comment?

Pineapple Day: How I Started a Global Holiday

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