1880s William Wrigley Jr. hands out gum to promote his Wrigley's Scouring Soap. The public responds: Screw the soap; just give us the gum.
1889 Ohio newspaperman Jasper Meek figures out how to use his printing presses to stamp words onto burlap. He puts local store names on bookbags; merchants buy them to give away. America's first schwag bag is born.
1890s Henry Beach, Meek's journalistic rival, decides to get even. He uses his printing presses to stamp letters on strips of wood, creating the first great piece of schwag: the imprinted flyswatter handle.
1933 Convicted felon Charles Ward becomes president of the failing promo product company, Brown & Bigelow. He hires hundreds of ex-cons, vowing to rehabilitate them. He also hires the nation's best pin-up artists to draw alluring women on company calendars. B & B's calendars make their way into 50 million homes.
1950 Joe Segel founds the Advertising Specialty Institute trade group. Asked today what prompted him to organize schwag, he says, "It's a long story and your readers wouldn't be interested." Segel goes on to found the Franklin Mint Corp. and the QVC network.
1951 John Baumgarth creates a calendar featuring a nudie photo of a young and unknown Marilyn Monroe, with the words Your Advertisement Here underneath. It becomes one of the most sought-after pieces of schwag ever.
1959 Police search the purse of woman killed in Flushing, New York, and find a pen with a company name on it. The schwag leads them to the suspect: a drug company employee, who confesses. He took the woman to a bar before killing her, and gave a pen to the bartender, too.
Late 1960s Synanon, a cult-like drug and alcohol rehab program, uses recovering drug addicts to distribute tchotchkes.
1966 Specialty advertising businesses show their patriotic spirit by donating 15,000 plastic pocket calendars to US troops fighting the war in Vietnam.
1977 Apple Computer gives out T-shirts; they become instant collector's items.
Early 1980s Michael Dell floods America with free mousepads.
1990 At the second TED conference, Richard Saul Wurman starts the tradition of giving away teddy bears and Wizards.
Late 1990s Yahoo! plasters its name on kazoos, yo-yos, skateboards, and even the Zamboni ice machine used at San Jose Sharks games.
Late 1990s Following Silicon Valley's lead, 80 percent of corporate America has gone casual; demand for corporate-logo polo shirts goes through the roof.
Fall 1998 German film company Agfa requires Comdex attendees to wear cardboard boxes as hats to qualify for prizes. No one protests.
Early 1999 Guerrilla ad man Michael Dweck designs a silicone breast implant paperweight as schwag for Maxim magazine. It never gets used.
June 1999 Starbelly.com opens for business, and its founder, Brad Keywell, brashly promises to revolutionize the business by taking it online. The industry's old boy network chuckles derisively.
Fall 1999 Yo-yos are no longer enough: Volkswagen Beetles are given away at Comdex.
January 2000 Starbelly.com is acquired for $240 million by industry leader Ha-Lo, and Keywell assumes the presidency of the largest schwag company in the free world. Nobody's laughing now.
January 2000 Branders.com introduces an online design studio. Now everyone can make their own schwag!
June 2000 Schwag reaches new levels of juvenile excess at PC Expo, with Frisbees flying overhead and everyone scrambling to get one of those balls that lights up when you bounce it.
June 2000 One PC Expo attendee reports the sighting of a man covered head to toe in schwag.
July 2000 Several units of the Tom Seaver commemorative bobble-head doll, given out at a Mets game to honor the legendary pitcher, find their way onto eBay; The New York Times cites this as evidence that "an on-line market can turn a freebie into a commodity."
November 2000 Recognizing the relentless appetite for booty at tech shows, Branders.com introduces the "Grab the Swag and Scoot" promotion at Comdex: It provide scooters "to help people get around faster and grab more product!"
