1968 advertisement for Chun King products and its Dragon brand
Volume 29, 1967
page 108
Chun King Corp. Offering Consumer Forksticks PremiumThe Chun King Corp., Duluth, Minn., is offering as a consumer premium a set of four beautifully balanced forksticks with ivory-like handles for $1, plus a label from any-canned or frozen Chun King product.Effective Jan. 1, the premium offer ties in with the kickoff of a vigorous campaign by Chun King to promote its annual Chinese New Year’s Festivities.TV spot advertisements on the Today Show and the Tonight Show, as well as four-color ads will back up the premium offer, as part of the Chinese New Year’s promotion. Colorful point-of-purchase coupon tear-off pads will also be available.The premium offer will run until Dec. 31, 1967.
L. Edmond Leipold
T. S. Denison & Company, 1968
page 157
… The 1967 premium was selected after careful consideration and it proved to be a popular choice. A tableware item called forksticks was offered as a premium, resembling chopsticks in appearance. It caught the eye of the buying public, adding a bizarre Oriental touch to a home-served meal of Chun King chow mein or chop suey. So successful was this promotion feature that it was decided to add two more items, spoonsticks and knifesticks, to the premium list on future occasions.
Jeno F. Palace
Grosset & Dunlap, 1969
page 104
... The 1967 premium was one we were particularly fond of. Our ad agency, J. Walter Thompson, came up with the idea: “forksticks,” or flatware made with wooden handles so that they had a family resemblance to chopsticks. Just the thing to add the final festive note to a banquet-at-home built around Chun King foods. Subsequently, we decided, we’d offer spoonsticks and knifesticks so the housewives could build up complete sets. ...
Joel Denker
University of Nebraska Press, 2007
page 104
... The promoter assiduously plotted in-store displays to boost sales. Supermarkets were lavishly decorated for three festivals, summer Luau, the Fall Moon festival, and Chinese New Year, which together contributed a third of the company’s yearly volume. Shops were decked out with lanterns and banners, pagodas, and rickshaws. Employees wearing conical-shaped “coolie” hats greeted shoppers. “Fork sticks” and “knife sticks” were given out as half-price premiums. ...
Forksticks measurements: .75 x 8.25 in / 1.9 x 21 cm, made in Japan
A translation of the characters on the handle: Live long and prosper. (First spoken on Star Trek, “Amok Time”, September 15, 1967.)
Knife measurements .75 x 9.0625 in / 1.9 x 23 cm, made in Japan
Large Spoon measurements 1.5 x 8.25 inches / 3.8 x 21 cm, made in Japan
Small Spoon measurements 1.25 x 6.75 in / 3.175 x 17 cm, made in Japan
At the time Forksticks was not trademarked; fast forward to the Forkstick in 2006.
Large Spoon measurements 1.5 x 8.25 inches / 3.8 x 21 cm, made in Japan
Small Spoon measurements 1.25 x 6.75 in / 3.175 x 17 cm, made in Japan
A different forksticks design was described in the 1996 novel, Virtual Zen, by Ray Nelson.
... First, they are plastic, that is, phony. Second, they are like chopsticks on one end, with the addition of grooves like those in the jaws of a pair of pliers. Third, they are like a knife and fork on the other end, with a spoon built into the prongs of the fork. ...
* * * * *
Chork measurements: 1 x 8.625 in / 2.54 x 21.9 cm, made in China
The Chork is a product of the Brown Innovation Group, Inc. in Princeton, Kentucky. In 2010 the company obtained a trademark. The Chork can be purchased at the company’s website and other online sellers such as Amazon and eBay.
A video demonstrating the Chork was posted in 2011. On May 15, 2012, Gigazine featured the Chork in Japanese and English.
In 2016, Panda Express provided the Chork to its customers; see articles at the Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2016; Hypebeast, August 15, 2016; and Mashable, August 15, 2016.
(Next post on Wednesday: “The Good Earth” in the Chinese Digest)
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