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Just add water, and watch your Chia Pet grow green

Full name
11 Jan 2022
5 min read
Question: from seed to sprout, this green "pet" can be formed in everything from yoda to Richard simmons...

Adding a “pet” (or perhaps a pet celebrity) to one’s household became a whole lot easier in the late 1970’s with the Chia Pet, a commercial craze/curiosity and fun home project which maintains its popularity well into the New Millennium.

The simple, terracotta figurines – now arranged in all manner of animal and pop culture shapes – remain sought-after for both kitsch and simplicity: Owning a “pet” requires but soaking the planter and soaking the accompanying chia seeds before spreading them upon the figure.  From there, as green “hair” grows, owners are instructed to simply keep the pet in a sunny spot and water daily.

The growth of the Chia Pet goes back to San Francisco advertising executive Joe Pedott, who, today, runs eponymous Joseph Enterprises, Inc., which, along with the Chia, includes gadgets like “The Clapper” on its roster.

According to a 2007 article on Pedott and the Chia Pet from Smithsonian Magazine:

“In 1977, on the lookout for potential clients, he attended the annual housewares show in the Windy City. There he asked a buyer from a large West Coast drugstore chain about his big holiday sellers. ‘He told me that something called the Chia Pet always sold out’, said Pedott to the magazine. ‘So I went over to talk with a man named Walter Houston, who was importing the little figures from Mexico.’ Houston, however, wasn't turning much profit on the enterprise.”

The Smithsonian went on to write that:

“Pedott visited the town in Mexico where the pets were made (they're now produced in China, like just about everything else). Once he was on the scene, he discovered that the middleman between the company and the factory was cheating on prices. (Hence his predecessor Houston's inability to make much money.)”

Soon, under Pedott’s direction, following by one of the most iconic  -- or, depending on whom you ask, perhaps annoying – commercial catchphrases in TV history, the “Ch-ch-ch-ch-Chia” was borne deep into the American consciousness.

While the first-ever Chia Pet was a man (“Chia Guy”), the craze caught real fire with a Chia Pet Ram released in 1982 as the product’s first widely-distributed pet.  

Come the year 2000, licensed characters Chias took center stage, and have since included pets ranging the likes of The Simpsons to Bob Ross to Richard Simmons to Barack Obama.

It’s now estimated that 15 million Chia Pets are sold on an annual basis.

Cementing their seemingly ceaseless cultural hold, in 1999, Chia Pets, according to the company’s website, may remain around for a long, long time:

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia is so much a part of American consumer lore that it was included in a New York Times time capsule, to be opened in the year 3000, along with a Purple Heart medal, a can of Spam and a Betty Crocker cookbook.”

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