E. Normus Johnson
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Big Johnson is a brand known for its
T-shirts A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...
featuring E. Normus Johnson depicted in comic art featuring sexual innuendos. At the height of Big Johnson's prominence in the 1990s, it sponsored a Big Johnson
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
automobile and the managing company was twice listed in the '' Inc.'' list of America's fastest growing companies. The sexual innuendo has been controversial leading to court rulings banning sales in federal buildings and corporate decisions banning wearing the shirts. Big Johnson is marketed by Maryland Brand Management, Inc. (MBM), the successor company to Maryland Screen Printers Inc. (MSP) and G & C Sales, Inc.


History

In 1986, Garrett and Craig Pfeifer created G & C Sales to create and market apparel relying on suppliers. The rapid growth of the company surpassed the capabilities of the company's suppliers and led to the formation of MSP in 1988, which gave the brothers control of their own production. MSP was named to ''Inc.s List of Americas fastest growing companies in both 1993 and 1994. Big Johnson T-shirts and apparel are by far the most famous MBM product. The brand peaked in the 1990s, with 1992 sales of $6.5 million ($ million today); 1994 sales of $16.5 million ($ million) and 1996 sales reaching $20 million ($ million). These sales were on shirts that wholesaled for $7.50. At that time, the company sponsored the Big Johnson NASCAR race car of
Dick Trickle Richard Leroy Trickle (October 27, 1941 – May 16, 2013) was an American race car driver. He raced for decades around the short tracks of Wisconsin, winning many championships along the way. Trickle competed in the ASA, ARTGO, ARCA, All ...
. For a time, the company also sponsored the Busch
Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (the top NASCAR series, known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 and 1970, then the NASCAR ...
NASCAR driver Johnny Rumley. In 1995, the Big Johnson
fan club A fan club is an organized group of fans, generally of a celebrity. Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to support them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the pers ...
had 13,000 members. In 2006, Garrett Pfeifer created Maryland Brand Management, Inc. During that period Big Johnson accounted for 60% of MSP's sales and profits doubled every year from 1990 to 1994. In 2009, MBM celebrated 20 years of Big Johnson apparel. In 1995, the company's products became part of a
United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
case when a
gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collection ...
proprietor at the
National Fire Academy The National Fire Academy (NFA) is one of two schools in the United States operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Operated and governed by the Unite ...
in
Emmitsburg Emmitsburg is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States, south of the Mason-Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania. Founded in 1785, Emmitsburg is the home of Mount St. Mary's University. The town has two Catholic pilgrim ...
, Maryland was forced by a
U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
ruling to take sexually suggestive T-shirts and cards out of his store, which was located in a federal building. The order noted that "The sale . . . of items which denote sexually offensive and discriminatory statements, depictions or pictures is in violation of federal law and presents a hostile and sexually offensive environment". The proprietor sought an
injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
against the U.S. Fire Administration. A few months after the ruling, the case was settled with the gift shop being granted expanded space in exchange for surrendering the right to sell the offending materials. Although both
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and
Kings Dominion Kings Dominion is an amusement park in Doswell, Virginia, United States, north of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, featuring over 60 rid ...
, are both large customers of MBM, Big Johnson shirts are banned in their
amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
s. Big Johnson has expanded beyond E. Normus Johnson shirts with lines of shirts for firefighters, police, and bikers.


E. Normus Johnson

E. Normus Johnson is fictional character, depicted as a scrawny, red-haired
geek The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In th ...
or dweeb. He is described as "a geekier version of ''
MAD magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...
'''s
Alfred E. Neuman Alfred E. Neuman is the fictitious mascot and cover boy of the American humor magazine '' Mad''. The character's distinct smiling face, gap-toothed smile, freckles, red hair, protruding ears, and scrawny body date back to late 19th-century ad ...
" by brandchannel. The character was created in either 1988 or 1989 by Maryland Screenprinters' artist Al Via. By 1995, the character had appeared in 120 cartoon depictions in the line of Big Johnson T-shirts. The cartoon captions allude to male
genitalia A sex organ, also known as a reproductive organ, is a part of an organism that is involved in sexual reproduction. Sex organs constitute the primary sex characteristics of an organism. Sex organs are responsible for producing and transporting ...
using the double entendre of the Big Johnson name. Examples of the puns accompanying artistic depictions of E. Normus are "Big Johnson Fire Department: Break out your hose and pumper", "Big Johnson Fishing Gear: She’ll be ready to bite as soon as your fly drops", "Big Johnson Bar and Casino: Liquor up front. Poker in the rear", and "Big Johnson Tattoo Parlor: You’re going to feel more than a little prick".


See also

*
Gag name A gag name is a pseudonym intended to be humorous through its similarity to both a real name and a term or phrase that is funny, strange, or vulgar. The source of humor stems from the double meaning behind the phrase, although use of the name wi ...


Notes

{{Reflist Clothing brands of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Maryland Clothing advertising characters Clothing controversies Advertising and marketing controversies Male characters in advertising Comedy characters Corporate mascots