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The Myth - During the production of the movie Office Space the production designer
Edward T. McAvoy had to solve a problem. How to make a stapler that was so special that the film's
character Milton would absolutely not allow his stinking boss Bill Lumberg to steal it from him
and keep it. How would one said production designer do so? Well, by giving Milton a fire engine
red Swingline stapler of course! With this idea in head, he called up Swingline and asked if they
made such a stapler. They unfortunately did not. McAvoy then asked: "Well, do you mind if I use your
logo on the side of a stapler I'm going to paint red?". Swingline did not mind. So McAvoy took
4 staplers down to a local auto-body shop and told them to make them perfectly painted, just like you'd
paint a car." Their handy work can be seen changing hands throughout the movie.
Office Space was released in 1999 and it was not until 2002 that after many requests from
movie fans, Swingline decided to create and sell a red stapler. It was in July of that year the company
began started selling the Rio Red 747 Business Stapler (SWI74740/SWI74736). Since then, the stapler has
begun popping up on desks in offices around the world. When someone see's a red Swingline
on your desk, and they are quote unquote, "In the know", it really says something about you. The only
thing bad about having one, is keeping people from stealing it.
February 2nd - We received an email from Ed McAvoy confirming that
the above two paragraphs are indeed a fact. He also wrote that he likes the site!
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