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The rubber duck has been an integral part to baths in recent times, as recognizable as a bubble bath. This small rubber fella has quite the regular rise to absolute stardom.

Whether you are more likely to have a shower than a bath you can still admit that this duck has cemented or rather rubberized itself into pop culture. As a person with too many rubber ducks in my life I wanted to learn more about this weird phenomenon of some water foul taking over baths in a wave of popularity.

The rubber duck or duckie first appeared in the 1940s and it was made out of vinyl. Yet we still called it a rubber duck, maybe just because Vinyl Duck didn’t quite have the ring to it. The first rubber toys were made by manufacturers that used Charles Goodyear’s process which made them malleable. Not to mention the first rubber ducks didn’t even float, the main feature of floating in the tub wasn’t there. The scandal! The first rubber ducks were solid and intended as chew toys, not for baths, yet.

The rubber duck we know and love today got developed in the 1940s, given a bright orange bill and the lovely yellow that we now know so well. Some of the ducks squeak and some are the quiet type. But how did the rubber duck get so popular? Well with most things Ernie from sesame street plays a massive role. Ernie sang a song all about the rubber duckie and how it was his best bath buddy. This tune about his tub buddy, hit number 16 on Billboard’s chart of hit tunes. 

With this tune the rubber ducky made itself truly iconic, all with a little help from Ernie. So next time you shower or have a bath think about this little rubber ducky.