Joseph Pedott, mastermind behind Chia Pet, Clapper, dead at 91

SAN FRANCISCO — Joseph Pedott, an entrepreneur who was the mastermind behind the 1980s products Chia Pet and the Clapper light switch, died June 22. He was 91.

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Pedott died at a hospital in San Francisco, The Washington Post reported. The cause of death was cardiac arrest, his nephew, Eric Alcouloumre, told the newspaper.

Pedott turned the Chia Pet and Clapper into retail sensations with catchy jingles, like “Ch-ch-ch-Chia” and “Clap on, clap off,” the Post reported.

He moved in 1958 to San Francisco after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1955 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He ran an advertising business in Chicago, according to the newspaper.

He moved in 1958 to San Francisco after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1955 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He ran an advertising business in Chicago, according to the newspaper.

In 1977, Pedott met a buyer for a drugstore chain at a housewares convention in Chicago and became curious about a product.

The businessman told Pedott that his top holiday seller was a ceramic figurine imported from Mexico, the Post reported. When soaked in water and covered with a paste of fast-germinating Chia seeds, the figurine would sprout a green coat that looked like hair.

The inventor of the figurine, Walter Houston, was losing money on the product and agreed to sell it to Pedott for $25,000, according to the newspaper.

Pedott created a new company, Joseph Enterprises Inc., to make the Chias, the Sun-Times reported.

The Chia ram was the first figurine to debut under Pedott’s guidance, followed by turtles, kittens and puppies, according to the newspaper. Later, pop culture figures Homer Simpson and Baby Yoda would be created. There is even a Chia version of former President Barack Obama, the Sun-Times reported.

He was forced to pull the Obama Chia from some shelves in 2009 after complaints that the president’s green Afro was racist, the Post reported.

“All I tried to do was something positive,” Pedott told the Los Angeles Times in 2009. “I never even thought about the hair.”

Other Chia figurines included George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Elmer Fudd, according to the newspaper.

“It’s the biggest asset I have,” Pedott told the Times.

Pedott did not create the Chia Pet jingle, but seized upon it when a friend proposed it to him, the Post reported.

“A friend jokingly stuttered ‘ch-ch-ch-Chia,’” Pedott said in an interview. “I grabbed his arm and said, ‘Hey, that is catchy. Let’s incorporate it.’”

Chia Pets sales in the United States have topped 25 million, according to Adweek.

The Clapper debuted in the mid-1980s, the Post reported. When it was connected to a lamp or appliance at an electrical outlet, it allowed a user to turn it on or off with a forceful clap, according to the newspaper.

A graveside service was held at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar on Monday, and a memorial service was held on Tuesday in San Francisco, according to Pedott’s obituary.