The author, John Marek, is executive director of the Anson Economic Development Partnership.
The 1970s was an era known for its fads. You probably remember or have heard of pet rocks, mood rings, CB radios and leisure suits. One craze from that era seems to have been largely forgotten, however. Between 1972 and 1979, a company called Whirley Industries sold more than 10 million miniature plastic pitchers shaped like a cow head. These “Moo Cow Creamers” were ubiquitous in cafes, diners and home kitchens all across the country.
The story of the Moo Cow Creamer is a fascinating piece of Americana. In 1960, two Dartmouth classmates decided to go into business together. Their initial venture was building and servicing laundromats. They called their company Whirley Wash, and it was so successful that the entrepreneurs expanded into coin-operated car washes. By the late 1960s they were looking to extend their budding empire.
They heard about a struggling plastics molding company that had come up with an “automatic” salt and pepper shaker. It was an interesting product but hadn’t sold well. They purchased the molds, began producing the shakers in a plant in Warren, Pa., and used their network to distribute them to mom and pop restaurants. In a brilliant marketing move, they put samples on restaurant tables at no cost to the owners, and customers started buying them.
I remember these from the local diner my family frequented (and worked at) in my hometown. It was a one-piece unit with two clear plastic receptacles. You pushed a white or black button on the top to dispense either the salt or the pepper. It was more of a gimmick than an innovation. Still, the company sold lots of them and a distributor friend told them that the salt and pepper shakers were the best product he’d seen since a ceramic cow creamer that he had sold.
The “Whirley” boys took that suggestion to heart and worked up a plastic design based on a ceramic creamer they found in a second-hand store. Following the successful pattern of the salt and pepper shakers, they marketed them in the 1970s through restaurants and gift shops, providing free samples for the tables and making their profit from sales to the customers. The creamers had a white body and a tan-colored head with a distinctive red mouth spout. They sold like crazy! The diner in my hometown alone sold hundreds of them. I remember my mother bought one for our kitchen and several more to give as gifts.
It was a useful, imaginative product, but let’s face it, a person only needs so many creamers in their life. Eventually, the market was saturated and the buying public directed their disposable income elsewhere, probably to one of those glass birds that repeatedly dip their beak into a glass of water. The company discontinued the production of the Moo Cow Creamer in the early 1980s. However, it still exists today as Whirley DrinkWorks. They manufacture a full line of customizable plastic beverage containers like the ones you buy the $7 Coke in at the ballgame. The creamers are widely available used on eBay, with a price of around $15.
Do you remember the Moo Cow Creamer? Did you own one? Do you still have one?