Fredric J. Baur, that's who. You might not have heard of him, but you almost certainly know his work, all because of what he did 42 years ago in 1966.
As an organic chemist and food storage technician at Cincinnati-based Proctor & Gamble, Baur had the idea to stack similarly shaped potato chips in a can, instead of a bag.
Pringles was born.
Now, you can find Pringles all over the world. If you're living on five dollars a day on a beach in Indonesia, chances are you can find a can of Pringles at a market. The brand is a reminder of America's influence around the world, its power. Like Bud or Coke.
You have to respect that kind of marketing skill, although a good friend of mine once criticized the Pringles can design when we were kids.
"How would you like it if people started putting tennis balls in potato chip bags," he said.
I disagreed.
Fredric Baur died last month at a hospital in Cincinnati. He was 89.
His family says a portion of his ashes will be buried in a Pringles can.

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.