You can be the president of Macroneaux
John Peterman topped himself on Wednesday.
Among his “unusual and unique and different-type stuff” on the jpeterman.com Web site was Macroneaux, a tiny (about 6 acres) country between France and Spain that was priced at $750,000.
Along with Macroneaux was a collection of truly rare items, like baseball glove leather pants for $479, Napoleon’s three-inch shoe lifts for $249,000 and J. Peterman Unfiltered Drinking Water at $199 a case.
The source of the water was a well on the Peterman estate, the description declared.
“Lexington, Kentucky is world famous for horses and it’s strictly because of the water. Pure, Unfiltered Limestone water has been proven to grow organic matter faster than any other tap water in a 300 mile radius.”
Of course, this was all an elaborate April’s Fools Day prank that was tied in with a 21-percent-off sale on the “real” items on The J. Peterman Co. Web site.
It was Peterman’s first such prank, but it rated a mention in The Huffington Post and drew emails from customers.
“April Fool’s jokes are good if you don’t take them so far that people get angry,” Peterman said, “but everybody had fun with this one.”
Asked how the recession has affected his Web and catalog sales of clothing and household items, Peterman said business is “not gangbusters, but it’s held up, knock on wood. We have a very good and loyal customer base, but every day is a challenge.”
He noted that his company has weathered several soft economies in the last 22 years, but “I’ve always maintained that if you have something good, people will buy it,” he said. “Our job is to give them items that they don’t know they want until they see them.”
