Joseph Pedott, entrepreneur who made Chia Pets and the Clapper household names, dead at 91

CHICAGO (CBS) -- You may not recognize the Chicago native's name, but chances are you know the work of Joseph Pedott.

The man behind iconic 1980s products the Clapper and the Chia Pet - and their catchy TV jingles - died last week. He was 91 years old.

After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1955, Pedott went on to run an advertising business in Chicago, Pedott & Peters, with his old college friend, Daryl Peters.

In 1980, he attended a housewares trade show, where an inventor showed off a terra cotta planter shaped like a ram, which would grow chia sprouts resembling hair when watered and covered in seeds, according to Chia's website.

The inventor said the product might be popular, but it wasn't profitable, so Pedott bought the rights, and went on to start a new company to market Chia Pets, turning them into household names and items, in part thanks to the catchy "Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia" jingle.

That same company, Joseph Enterprises Inc., went on to similar success with the Clapper, a product that turned lights or other plug-in appliances on and off when someone claps; again marketing it with a catch jingle featuring the catchphrase "clap on, clap off, the Clapper!"

Pedott died last week of cardiac arrest at a hospital in San Francisco.