1949 was a big year for barf, welcoming both the invention of the barf bag and the introduction of Dramamine®. 75 years later, Dramamine® is the #1 motion sickness brand, but its extraordinary effectiveness in preventing unexpected spewing may be rendering the barf bag all but defunct. To commemorate our joint anniversary, Dramamine® is breathing new life into the paper product with a mission to make sure the barf bag still has a place in the world—even now that barf is hard to come by.
Our documentary The Last Barf Bag: A Tribute to a Cultural Icon explores the cultural impact of a humble but crucially useful American invention. In it, collectors and enthusiasts—whose passion for barf bags introduces us to a whole new subculture—meet an unlikely ally:
the makers of the anti-nausea medication that threatens its existence. Directed by the filmmaking collective Sunny Sixteen,
The Last Barf Bag brings collectors, doctors, pilots, historians, brand managers, suppliers, flight attendants, and even regular people
together to discuss their stories surrounding the blowing of chunks—and the bags made to catch them.
What happens if barf bags don’t have any barf to catch? Well, you know what they say: when one bag closes, another opens. Dramamine® has fully reimagined barf bags for a world without barf and turned them into everything from popcorn bags to puppets. You can get in on the crusade to save culture’s cherished paper puke sacks by shopping our limited edition collection below.
Dramamine® commissioned Jessie Bearden—a creative director and artist known for making art from unconventional materials, and a finalist on season 2 of NBC's Making It— to create a custom, wearable art piece made out of barf bags. With vintage barf bags as a novel canvas, Bearden’s custom-made puffer coat uses colorful, patterned barf bags from around the world as material for a unique, one-of-a-kind item.