Editing Wiki wiki dollar

{{More citations needed|date=July 2007}}
[[File:Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980) Press Photo of Irene Tsu.jpg|thumb|right|Irene Tsu]]
A '''wiki wiki dollar''' was a giveaway promotion in the [[United States]] from the [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]] [[gasoline]] company during the 1960s.  The advertising campaign featured a wiki wiki girl, played by dancer [[Irene Tsu]], dressed in a [[grass skirt]] and performing a brisk [[hula]] while standing on a [[gasoline pump]].

The ''[[National Petroleum News]]'' noted it was one of the many promotional gimmicks attempted by gasoline companies in the 1960s and described it as part of "a late Sixties West Coast duel" between Chevron and [[Shell Oil Company|Shell]]:

<blockquote>Chevron paid game players "Wiki Wiki Dollars" of $1 to $2,500 for matching segments of game pieces and offered more than $2,300,000 in prizes as part of a "hula" bingo game.<ref>Lawrence, Donna. "If gimmicks sell 'gas' and anything goes ...." ''National Petroleum News'', vol. 76, Feb. 1984, p. 100</ref></blockquote>

In the ''[[San Francisco Express Times]]'' in 1969, editor Marvin Garson denounced the campaign as part of an article on [[Standard Oil]], the corporate predecessor of Chevron.  He wrote:

<blockquote>Standard debauches the public taste with its garish $2,300,000 hula-hula Wiki Wiki Dollar giveaway. Standard strangles the beauty of the American road.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goodman, Mitchell|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/253767|title=The movement toward a new America: the beginnings of a long revolution; (a collage)--a what? ...|date=1971 |publisher=Pilgrim Press|isbn=0-394-70944-6|location=Philadelphia|pages=531|oclc=253767}}</ref> </blockquote>

== References ==
<references />

==Further reading==
*[http://cgi.ebay.com/IRENE-TSU-HAND-SIGNED-BW-8X10-PHOTO-PSA-DNA-COA_W0QQitemZ330183852315QQihZ014QQcategoryZ32988QQcmdZViewItem An eBay sale of a photo of Irene Tsu says] "Irene Tsu (born April 5, 1943 in Shanghai, China) is an actress who started in the film Flower Drum Song in 1961. She was featured in an advertising campaign (Wiki wiki dollar) in the 1960s. She was raised in San Francisco and won a "Miss Chinatown" beauty pageant in 1961."
*[http://stvoy.epguides.info/?Actor=2171 Star Trek: The Episode Guide says] (quoting IMDB) Irene Tsu "was the TV spokeswoman for "Chevron Island" Standard Oil"
*[http://fragileindustries.typepad.com/fragile_industries/2005/05/wiki_wiki_girl_.html A blog entry] says "I found the debate when I Googled Wiki Wiki Girl (no quotes, shoulda had 'em) to see if anyone remembers that phrase.  In the late '60's or early '70's, Chevron had an advertising campaign with the "Wiki Wiki Girl"—a gorgeous pseudo-Polynesian woman in a grass skirt hula-ing her butt off on top of a gas pump.  There may have been a contest involved.  I remember it only because 10 years later, I had my first full-time job working for the Wiki Wiki Girl herself, Irene Tsu, former dancer and now fashion designer.  I got the job because I knew her husband, photographer/director Ivan Nagy."

[[Category:Sales promotion]]
[[Category:Chevron Corporation]]


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