Giving the Gift of Nostalgia and Irony

After checking three stores, Beth Cohnen finally found a must-have Christmas gift for her 10-year-old daughter to give to her uncle: a Chia Scooby-Doo.

It’s bound to be $15 well spent -- he had asked for it for about five years in a row. And although the uncle recognizes the humor in the quirky pottery, Cohnen said, Chia Pets aren’t for her.

“I think they’re kind of odd,” she said.

Over the last two decades, the Chia Pet has grown beyond its marketer’s expectations to become a classic kitsch gift.

The company began marketing Chia Pets -- the Chia Ram was the first -- around Christmas 1982 after purchasing a variation from a man who happened upon the idea in Mexico, said Michael Hirsch, vice president of Joseph Enterprises Inc., based in San Francisco.

The company kept the trademark name but revamped the product and packaging and began advertising on television. A hokey “Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia” spot showed children applying the seed mixture to the terra cotta planter.

“If you would have asked us in ’82 how long it would last, we’d have said, ‘Hopefully through 1983,’ ” Hirsch said. “As soon as the TV [commercials] started, stores started calling us, asking us for more. So who knew?”

In an age of video games and iPods, the simple product has secured a foothold as a holiday gift, though Hirsch isn’t exactly sure why.

But Audrey Guskey, a Duquesne University marketing professor and consumer trends expert who monitors Christmas spending and gifts, said Chia Pets tapped into nostalgia, which has become a theme in recent years.

Jonathan Pontell, a pop culture expert and trend consultant who coined the term “Generation Jones” to describe people sandwiched between Generation X and Baby Boomers, agreed that nostalgia had become popular since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“There is something about harking back to a simpler, less chaotic time,” Pontell said.

Generation Jones is partly responsible for Chia’s success, said Pontell, 46, of Los Angeles.

Those born during the period “developed a certain sense of irony” -- a defense, he said, from the failed promises of the 1960s and 1970s.

“I can remember specifically when Chia Pets came out on the market,” he said. “We thought they were so cheesy that they were cool,” he said.

New Chia products are added every couple of years, and there are about a dozen varieties, including Shrek, Scooby-Doo, an assortment of animals and an herb garden. The company also markets the Clapper, another holiday gift.

Millions of Chia Pets -- which are also marketed in other countries including England, Germany and France -- have been sold, but Hirsch wouldn’t be more specific or discuss sales figures. He realizes that Chia Pets often are given as gag gifts, but doesn’t mind.

“If you make fun of it, if you coddle it, we don’t care just as long as you get one,” Hirsch said.