Around the time the song was being written, plastics were becoming more and more popular as cheap substitutes for all kinds of traditional products. Plastic was the new faux material, like pleather and most of the things Wal Mart, K-Mart and other big box stores sell. Cheap junk. Plastic people don't think they just follow the lead of others and buy stupid junk because they feel like they have to not because they really need it. Davies is making fun of people like that, perhaps in an attempt to get people to wake up and change their habits. Doesn't seem to have worked... There are more of these bozos around today than in the 60s it seems.
Around the time the song was being written, plastics were becoming more and more popular as cheap substitutes for all kinds of traditional products. Plastic was the new faux material, like pleather and most of the things Wal Mart, K-Mart and other big box stores sell. Cheap junk. Plastic people don't think they just follow the lead of others and buy stupid junk because they feel like they have to not because they really need it. Davies is making fun of people like that, perhaps in an attempt to get people to wake up and change their habits. Doesn't seem to have worked... There are more of these bozos around today than in the 60s it seems.