TUNA TRAUMA

STARKIST CHARLIE TUNA TRANSISTOR RADIO

You know, I'd probably collect these if I had ever seen another one.  I've seen some other Charlie Tuna Radios, but they are much different.  They're rectangular with Charlie's image on them.  This is the only one I've ever seen like this.  Lord knows why, but we went on a field trip to the StarKist canning factory when I was in the first grade.  It was sooo disgusting.  Why someone thought a bunch of first graders would want to be traumatized by walking through a fish slaughter house.  But then, I kind of do understand.  Most of my early grade school teachers were octogenarians (they were probably really in their 30s, but seemed like they were ready croak at any time) and I swear, they were sadists.  But, I scored this transistor radio in the gift shop (why does a canning factory need a gift shop?)...and the anthropomorphizing of those poor fish with Charlie, the reject, seemed to make it all a bit less traumatic.  For those of you who don't remember the commercials, Charlie was like a beatnik Tuna and was morally unsuited to be caught and turned into tuna salad.  Their slogan was "Sorry Charlie"...which also smacked of anti-Japanese racism to me...but I was a weird kid and probably the only one who picked up on it.