Walgreens pulls Obama Chia Pet after complaints
Walgreens has pulled a Barack Obama version of the Chia Pet from its stores, and the decision leaves about 200,000 of the pottery plant kits in a West Side Chicago warehouse.
The Deerfield-headquartered drugstore chain made the move Friday after getting a few complaints about the item since the product's April 1 launch, a spokeswoman said.
Chia founder Joseph Pedott -- a Chicago native whose San Francisco-based Joseph Enterprises provides local jobs for the disabled -- said he was inspired to create the Obama head as a show of patriotism.
Pedott, a middle-aged white man, was nervously surveying black women about the product at the Home and Housewares Show in Chicago just two days before the two versions -- a "determined" Obama and a smiling Obama -- hit the stores.
The $19.99 Chia Obama, which sprouts foliage in the space where hair would be, is still available at chiaobama.com, but Pedott said he's trying to find another large brick-and-mortar retailer to sell the item.
The product is the second Chia offering to be based on a person; the company produced a promotional item for Mr. T.
Cheryl V. Jackson