A closer look
South African plastics manufacturers experienced an incredibly bizarre and massive economic boom during the 2010 FIFA World Cup thanks to the sudden global obsession with the vuvuzela, a brightly colored plastic horn that produces a deafening monotone drone. As millions of international soccer tourists descended upon the country, local factories aggressively ramped up production to twenty-four hours a day, selling millions of these cheap plastic instruments at wildly inflated tourist prices. The sheer volume of horrible noise generated by these horns completely ruined the television broadcast for millions of global viewers, but it single-handedly injected millions of dollars of raw consumer capital straight into the local manufacturing sector. It is a stunning example of how a completely useless, highly annoying piece of extruded plastic can briefly become the most critical financial pillar of a developing nation's economy, as long as drunk sports fans are willing to open their wallets
