In an audacious plan of goodwill and fan fellowship, Patches of Pride (PoP), a manufacturer of 1:6 scale miniature patches, decals and related miniature accessories, has announced its intention to “help spread Joe karma” in 2014 by rewarding 365 of its faithful customers and fans with free gifts. According to PoP company founder and representative, Mark Otnes:
“We were sitting around the office the other day, just talking about how we felt Hasbro had ‘dropped the ball’ bigtime for GIjOE’s 50th Anniversary. That led to kicking around ideas about what, if anything, we could do to help rectify the situation.
Someone pointed out that the national GIjOE club was hosting JoeCon 2014 in Dallas, but to be honest, nobody seemed to be very interested in attending. Most felt fans of the original 1:6 scale GIjOE had been forgotten and excluded from the activities at the 2013 JoeCon in Indy, and there was little desire to repeat that experience.
So… after about an hour of back-n-forth grumbling, we realized that if anything substantive was going to be done in 2014 to honor and respect GIjOE’s 50th Anniversary, it would have to have to come from the fans— and be FOR the fans, aka ‘Joe karma.’
That’s when a lightbulb went off. After we had replaced it with a new one (HA), an idea came to us… GIjOE is all about being helpful, heroic, and making people happy. So what better way to honor that tradition than by giving BACK to the very fans who made its success so long-lasting and worthwhile? That’s how ‘Operation: Joe Karma 2014′ was born. In addition to donating $1 (from every order received over $25) to the USO, every single day during 2014, we’ll be giving away free prizes to our customers, ranging from store credit, to gift certificates, vintage comic books, GIjOE action figures, uniform sets, equipment packs, and even vehicles. We’re even going to surprise fans following us on Facebook. It’s going to be quite a ride in 2014!”
Bottom Line: As far as we’ve been able to determine, no other 1:6 scale-related company has EVER made such an abundant, year-long offer of “Joe karma” to its fans and customers. And the company’s donations to the USO are like icing on the cake! Patches of Pride continues to break ground with its efforts to reach out and “give back” to fellow fans and collectors of GIjOE, Action Man and related 1:6 scale action figures. If you’d like to learn more about PoP’s “Operation: Joe Karma 2014,” we recommend you go HERE now. And…Happy 50th Anniversary, GIjOE!
