Joseph Pedott Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Joseph Enterprises, Inc. (San Francisco, California)
label: Creator
content: Pedott, Joseph, 1932-2023
topic: label: Topic
content: Novelties
label: Topic
content: Toys
label: Topic
content: Popular culture
label: Topic
content: Marketing
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Joseph Pedott, 2005.
creator: label: Creator
content: Joseph Enterprises, Inc. (San Francisco, California)
label: Creator
content: Pedott, Joseph, 1932-2023
setName: label: See more items in
content: Joseph Pedott Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Papers relating to products developed and marketed by Joseph Enterprises, Inc., including the Chia Pet and the Clapper. The collection includes internal business documentation including correspondence, design drawings, and photographs. Print advertising and packaging samples as well as audiovisual materials make up an important part of the collection. The video collection includes commercials for the Chia and Clapper products as well as clips of product mentions in popular entertainment. In addition, there are two recorded oral history interviews with Joseph Pedott.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Joseph Pedott (1932-2023) was born April 14, 1932 in Chicago. He attended the University of Illinois, where he and friend Daryl Peters, began the advertising company, Pedott & Peters.  They successfully began producing commercials for automotive and retail companies and made a large amount of money by the time they reached the age of twenty-one.  After making a bad business investment the partners focused on completing college. They began building up the company upon graduation.

Pedott and Peters worked together for several years before deciding to dissolve the partnership. Pedott then began working for R. Jack Scott, a Chicago advertising agency. Pedott worked for Scott for just over two years and during that time, out-performed those with more experience in the advertising field.  Pedott left Chicago for San Francisco in 1956. He worked briefly at a small firm on commission before forming his own agency, Joseph Pedott Advertising & Marketing.  Pedott's firm was innovative in advertising techniques.  The company was the first to use "dealer tagging," a technique used at the ends of television commercials.  During the last five seconds of the commercial consumers would learn where the advertised item could be purchased. 

While attending a Chicago house wares show Pedott noticed the Chia Pet. He spoke with the product owner and learned that while the product was selling well, the owner was losing money on every Chia sold.  Pedott bought the name and concept and reworked the manufacturing of the product after a trip to Mexico to witness first hand how the Chias were made. Later pedott moved Chia manufacturing to China. Pedott created a new company, Joseph Enterprises, Inc., (JEI) to manufacture the Chias.  Joseph Pedott Advertising ran the advertising campaigns for all of JEI's products while continuing to work for non JEI clients. 

After improving the quality of the product, the "new" Chia arrived on the market in 1982 and quickly expanded throughout the country, sold largely at drugstores.  Today, the Chia Pet has large name recognition among the American public and continues to be a popular gift, especially at Christmas time.  The line has expanded beyond the original ram and bull shapes to include a variety of animals (pig, elephant, kitten, dinosaur, etc.) as well as famous cultural icons such as Jerry Garcia, Bugs Bunny and various Looney Tunes characters, and Homer and Bart Simpson.  In addition, the Chia Herb Garden entered the market in the mid-1990s.

Pedott's other success, the Clapper, came about through the advertising campaign for the Great American Turn On.  Pedott discovered that the original product did not work properly and felt the owners were cheating their customers.  JEI bought the product, including the patent, and reworked the electrical wiring to ensure that the company was selling a high quality product. As with the Chia Pet, The Clapper and its advertising, like the Chia, are familiar to a large number of Americans.

Note: Material for this section was taken from Joe Pedott Oral History Interview Abstract, September 20, 2004, Joseph Pedott Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1976-2005, 2008
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0898
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Advertisements
label: Type
content: Oral history
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Design drawings
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Packaging
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection organized into eight series.

Series 1: Oral History Interviews, September 2004, April 2008

Series 2: Chia Pet, 1981-2005, undated

Series 3: The Clapper, 1976-1985, undated

Series 4: Scribe Ett, 1981, 1984, undated

Series 5: Eversharp Pen Company, undated

Series 6: Various Products, 1985, undated

Series 7: Newspaper Clippings, 1989-2004, undated

Series 8: Audiovisual Materials, 1979-2005, undated

Subseries 8.1, Commercials, 1979-2005

Subseries 8.2, Promotions, 1996-2001
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Cassandra A. Schmitt, February 2007; supervised by Alison Oswald and Wendy Shay, archivists.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Advertisements
label: Genre/Form
content: Oral history
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Design drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Packaging
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection documents the Chia Pet, the Clapper, and other products of Joseph Enterprises, Inc. Other materials include packaging and advertising campaigns by Joseph Pedott Advertising & Marketing for other companies.  
While fragmentary and limited in extent, these materials illustrate the progress of Joe Pedott's career from a one-man advertising agency to a modest scale, enduring marketing business.  The papers include early advertising work for small local clients and for a national client (Eversharp/Parker Pen) and well as early television for a variety of retail products.  There is little on unsuccessful products, often just a few advertisements.  The materials are complemented by the oral history interviews.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the National Museum of American History

The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds artifacts related to this collection (Accession # 2005.3116) that include:

1. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet dog

2. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet ram

3. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet bull

4. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia-saurus

5. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia Shrek character

6. Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Donkey from Shrek

7. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Jerry Garcia Chia

8. Bigmouth: A portable, plastic garbage bag holder

9A. CD Mobile antenna with packaging

9B. CB Mobile monitor with box

10. Video recorder with packaging

11. Metal detector with packaging

12. Pen set with frame and packaging

13. Light switch with box

14. Light switch with packaging

15. Jar lid opener with box

16. Tapeless measure with packaging

17A. Pen, engraving

17B. Pen, engraving with packaging

17C. Pen, engraving with packaging

17D. Pen, engraving with packaging

18A. Knife, Pumpkin cutter

18B. Knife, Pumpkin cutter

18C. Knife, Pumpkin cutter

18D. Knife, Pumpkin cutter

18E. Knife with packaging

18F. Pumpkin cutter with packaging