Great Marketing Helps Chia Pet Holiday Tradition Grow

Have you ever gotten a Chia Pet as a gift?

I’m betting the answer is “yes.”

And who doesn’t know their famous jingle? You can watch the original 1980s commerical with the jingle on YouTube here. It’s brilliant branding and marketing.

But there is more than just fun and games to Chia. Chia Pets and Chia Heads are owned by a company called Joseph Enterprises in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here is some history you may not be aware of:

First Chia Pet: The ram, first marketed in 1982.

Chias and the Holidays: According to the company’s website, they are sold only during the holiday season because: “Chia Pets and Chia Heads are handmade pottery items. It takes an entire year to produce enough Pets and Heads for one holiday season.”

Joseph Enterprises also markets the other great holiday item: The Clapper.

This year, you can also buy the Chia Herb garden and the Chia Catgrass- where the cat eats the grass. Their website says it provides “essential vitamins and folic acid” and “aids in digestion”. An added bonus: it also freshens kitty breath!

Don’t laugh about the Chia Herb Garden. It is mentioned on numerous gardening websites as an easy way to grow your own herbs and you can grow them all winter. The seeds are organic.

I’ve never gotten a Chia Pet myself. But if I did, I think I’d just have to grow it to see if it really does work.

Come on, admit it. You’ve gotten a Chia before. Question is, did you grow it?