Joseph Enterprises, Inc. is a

gadget A gadget is a machine, mechanical device or any ingenious article. Gadgets are sometimes referred to as ''wikt:gizmo, gizmos''. History The etymology of the word is disputed. The word first appears as reference to an 18th-century tool in Glass ...

company owned by the

National Entertainment Collectibles Association National Entertainment Collectibles Association Inc. (mostly known by its acronym NECA) is an American manufacturer of collectibles typically licensed from films, video-games, sports, music, and television based in New Jersey. The company was fou ...

, a subsidiary of Ad Populum, and founded by Joseph Pedott. It is based in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Two of their most popular products are

The Clapper The Clapper is a sound-activated electrical switch, sold since 1984 by San Francisco, California based Joseph Enterprises, Inc. Joseph Pedott marketed the clapper with the slogan "Clap On! Clap Off! The Clapper!". The Clapper plugs into a U.S. ...

and the

Chia Pet Chia Pets are American styled terracotta figurines used to sprout chia, where the chia sprouts grow within a couple of weeks to resemble the animal's fur or hair. Moistened chia seeds (''Salvia hispanica'') are applied to a grooved terracotta ...

History

Joseph Enterprises was founded in

in 1981 by Joseph Pedott. The Clapper, a switch activated by clapping, was first sold to the public on September 1, 1985. The

was first introduced on September 8, 1977, and although its name is

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

ed, the Chia Pet is not a patented

invention An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...

. The first Chia Pet, "Chia Guy", was marketed and distributed in 1977. The first widely marketed Chia Pet, the

ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

, was marketed and distributed in 1982, although the trademark was not applied for until 1998. Founder Joseph Pedott passed away on June 22, 2023, at the age of 91.

References

External links

Joseph Enterprises, Inc homepage

Companies based in California 1981 establishments in California Manufacturing companies established in 1981 Companies based in San Francisco {{US-manufacturing-company-stub