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July 1, 2023 4:26 PM

Joseph Pedott, the man who brought us The Chia Pet and The Clapper, has died. Joseph Enterprises, a gadget company was founded in 1981.
posted by clavdivs (31 comments total)

🪴
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:28 PM on July 1, 2023 [6 favorites]

I don’t know if this was one of his but forty years ago a classmate of mine had a gizmo that would turn the lights off if it detected no sound in the room for maybe ninety seconds. I suppose the idea was that if you were talking with someone or watching TV or something, you could just go to bed at the end of the night and the lights would turn themselves off.

Of course, it doesn’t much help if you are reading or studying (which he did), so he developed the unconscious habit of loudly clearing his throat every minute or so. He had not noticed until others pointed it out.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:47 PM on July 1, 2023 [11 favorites]

He had good advertising people at least. I will likely never get The Chia Pet, nor The Clapper, ad lines out of my head...
posted by Windopaene at 4:52 PM on July 1, 2023 [12 favorites]

cha cha cha CHIA!

clap on... clap off... THE CLAPPER!
posted by Don Pepino at 4:58 PM on July 1, 2023 [9 favorites]

Is there something you could share with the rest of us, Amazing Larry?
posted by y2karl at 4:58 PM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

See also
posted by y2karl at 5:14 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

I just clicked that and entered to maybe win a Chia Pet of me. Does it have to be of your head, though?
posted by The otter lady at 5:26 PM on July 1, 2023 [7 favorites]

The Clapper broke my first stereo in high school the first time I used it.

RIP

.
posted by brundlefly at 5:40 PM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Does it have to be of your head, though?

Even as I hesitate to type out the question... what other part of you might it be, if you had the choice?
posted by hippybear at 5:44 PM on July 1, 2023 [6 favorites]

An untapped market right there...
posted by Windopaene at 5:51 PM on July 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

.
posted by runehog at 5:59 PM on July 1, 2023

.
posted by riruro at 6:14 PM on July 1, 2023

I'm still slightly flabbergasted that chia seeds, in addition to being used for novelty houseplants, are actually edible.

Also--because I am probably an awful person--I have to wonder if this man's wake features a Clapper Coffin.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:37 PM on July 1, 2023 [5 favorites]

👏
posted by scruss at 6:41 PM on July 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

👏 indeed. A kitsch giant
posted by potrzebie at 7:37 PM on July 1, 2023

*clap clap*
posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:26 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

💡👏◼️
posted by armeowda at 9:47 PM on July 1, 2023 [5 favorites]

Also--because I am probably an awful person--I have to wonder if this man's wake features a Clapper Coffin.

Better yet, spread the chia seeds all over his corpse and let it grow...
posted by Snowflake at 10:26 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Every time I walk into a dark room and can’t find a light switch I always clap my hands 2x 👏 👏

One of these days it will work
posted by capnsue at 12:04 AM on July 2, 2023 [9 favorites]

.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 2:58 AM on July 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have a chia Obama!
posted by atomicstone at 6:07 AM on July 2, 2023 [6 favorites]

My kid had no idea what the clapper was, until I started reciting the jingle. Then they immediately knew what I was talking about.
posted by Spike Glee at 6:57 AM on July 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

..
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:39 AM on July 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

👏🌱
posted by May Kasahara at 7:47 AM on July 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

I have a chia Obama!
I have a chia Trump, but it doesn't really work as well as other Chia products I've seen. I don't blame Chia. Trump's hair is not found in nature.
posted by Don Pepino at 8:52 AM on July 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

They had 2 versions. I can't remember, but feel like one was "happy" and one was "stern"? That's what they were called. I think I got happy? We definitely bloomed (?) it once. It sits in our China cabinet (a handmedown from my in laws) among actual family heirlooms and fancy shit and other weird Obama ephemera I picked up that season as a DC-ite: the audacity of soap (yes, it's soap), Barack and Michelle car air fresheners ( no joke, new car smell), a variety of weird ass shot glasses, etc. I still wish I would have bought one of those janky shirts claiming it was a "historical" moment. I mean, yes....it was. Most are.
posted by atomicstone at 9:41 AM on July 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

I actually would like to take some time to read around to some of his obituaries because I’ve always been a bit curious about the minds of the people who create these things. That you have to create multiple types of These Things that take off and then land in the public consciousness is just kind of fascinating to me, especially as a child of the seventies.

👏🏻🌱.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 10:07 AM on July 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

( no joke, new car smell)

Now there's a user name.
posted by y2karl at 4:07 PM on July 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

I was never able to lay my hands on the mythical "Learn About Puberty Chia Pet."
posted by Midnight Skulker at 11:55 AM on July 3, 2023

For all the mocking, it's worth remembering that The Clapper was one of the first affordable pieces of home automation available to people, and that for those whose mobility was limited, it did a lot to improve their quality of life.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:00 PM on July 3, 2023 [9 favorites]

I think today's Squaredle Express may be an homage.
posted by Don Pepino at 12:57 PM on July 3, 2023