History of the Chia Pet

The Chia seed has received much attention since its labeling as a 'super food'. The author Christopher McDougall is probably the man most responsible for popularizing the nutritional benefits of the Chia seed. In his book "Born to Run" he recounted his introduction to Chia by the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico's isolated Copper Canyons. McDougall was given a porridge of Chia, lime juice and water by the Tarahumara which he found gave him tremendous long lasting energy. However, McDougall is not the reason everyone knows about Chia.

Ch-ch-ch Chia owes its notoriety to one man. Joe Pedott discovered the Chia, not in the Copper Canyons but in Chicago at a housewares trade show. chia anime Pedott was attending the show looking for clients for his marketing firm. He had a chance encounter with a west coast pharmacy buyer whom he asked a simple question. "What is your best holiday seller?" The man answered it was the Chia Pet. Pedott had never heard of them, so he sought out the man presenting them at the trade show. He discovered while the Chia Pet sold a lot it was not very profitable to the manufacturer due to the costs of importing the terracotta from Mexico. Pedott felt he could do better, so he bought the rights to the Chia Pet name, and took a trip to visit the suppliers in Mexico.

While there he discovered the real reason the product was not making money had nothing to do with manufacturing, but everything to do with the purchasing. The middleman was adding a huge markup. So Pedott set up his own manufacturing and importing to cut out the middle man. With a cheaper source of Chia Pets, Pedott turned his attention to marketing the product. One day a colleague stuttered the name of the Chia Pet and Pedott recognized as the perfect catch phrase.

Beginning in the early 1980's the Ch-ch-ch Chia Pet commercials started bombarding the airwaves. In thirty plus years of constant holiday marketing, the Chia Pet has become a cult phenomena. Everyone knows the jingle. Now there are Chia Pets, Chia Animals, Chia Heads and countless novelty Chia products like a Duck Dynasty Chia Decoy. In 2003, the Chia Pet was inducted into the National Museum of American History, cementing its effect on popular culture.

Joe Pedott has even launched a brand of Chia supplements that capitalize on the Ch-ch-ch Chia jingle and expands the brand to the nutritional section of pharmacies. Without Joe, the Chia seed would be a whole lot less well known.