[breckinloggins]

I think this has something to do with the word "cheap" being placed in front of "plastic" so often that it stopped modifying "plastic" and just became part of it. When that happens, you need a pretty strong adjective to reset the connotation. "Unapologetically" seems to fit the bill.

It works with buns, too. "Go grab some hamburger buns" sounds Forth of July Rainbo Bread to me. "Pick up some artisan buns" resets that.

Well, that's how it works in my mind at least; your mind may vary.

[Zikes]

In the context of phones in particular, Apple had a lot to do with "plastic" being conflated with "cheap" when they launched glass-back phones.

[breckinloggins]

I was also thinking much older. Growing up I would often hear something like "this is just a cheap plastic toy, it's not a real <whatever>".