# Bic pen works after being shot out of a gun **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891 "2008-03-19T02:43:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/1 "2008-03-19T02:43:33Z")
From an IMHO thread: [QUOTE=BrknButterfly] My favorite pen of all time is a blue bic. Love them. [/QUOTE] Today my google-fu is not mighty. Can anyone point me to a video of the classic commercial where a Bic pen (‘Stick’) is shot out of a gun at a target, and is shown to still be capable of writing? I have an idea that John Cameron Swayze was the pitchman. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/2 "2008-03-19T13:31:10Z")
I’m sorry. I thought for a moment this was Fark. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/3 "2008-03-19T14:16:49Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] I have an idea that John Cameron Swayze was the pitchman. [/QUOTE] I think he pitched Timex watches, although confusion about who was the pitchman is understandable. Swayze’s Timex ads also showed Timexes being subjected to various stresses–I seem to recall one where a Timex was strapped to the propellor of an outboard motor: “Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking,” was the tagline, IIRC. I remember the rifle ad for Bic too. Couldn’t find it on YouTube, but I did find the one where the flamenco dancer has a Bic attached to his boot. After a vigorous dance, the Bic still writes. And it was still only 19 cents! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/4 "2008-03-19T14:21:56Z")
YouTube doesn’t seem to have them. They had several of these – They had a Bic pen being fired out of a rifle, through a block of wood, and working. They had one where it was attached, ballpoint down, to an ice skate, and a skater did a routine on the ice. “Bic pen writes first time, every time. _Even over butter_!” So how come I’ve got a zillion clogged-up Bic pens in all my pen holders? Maybe I need to shoot them through blocks of pine every now and then. Or grease them up with butter. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/5 "2008-03-19T14:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] So how come I’ve got a zillion clogged-up Bic pens in all my pen holders? Maybe I need to shoot them through blocks of pine every now and then. Or grease them up with butter. [/QUOTE] You gotta be rough with them! If you coddle them they only let you down. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/6 "2008-03-19T14:28:51Z")
When I was a kid, Bic pens had a slogan that I didn’t get at the time. I recently re-encountered it and laughed my head off. **Flic my Bic** ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/7 "2008-03-19T14:47:11Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] When I was a kid, Bic pens had a slogan that I didn’t get at the time. I recently re-encountered it and laughed my head off. **Flic my Bic** [/QUOTE] No, that was the slogan for the Bic lighter. IIRC, it was one of the first cheap and widely-available disposable lighters. The slogan for Bic pens was as above: “Bic writes first time, every time.” Yeah, I watched a lotta TV as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/8 "2008-03-19T15:16:16Z")
Well I still didn’t get it was a play up Suck My Dick. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/9 "2008-03-19T15:40:45Z")
[QUOTE=Spoons] I seem to recall one where a Timex was strapped to the propellor of an outboard motor: “Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking,” was the tagline, IIRC. [/QUOTE] [That one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dLdguKR1wg) didn’t go quite as planned. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/10 "2008-03-19T15:50:43Z")
One cartoon said, “Of course it didn’t work, sir. You don’t have any butter on the paper!” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/11 "2008-03-19T15:58:11Z")
I remember a popular song from that Bic/Timex period… _If I was a carpenter and you were a lady would you rather marry me or John Cameron Swayze?_ … or maybe I just dreamt it up. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/12 "2008-03-19T16:20:52Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] So how come I’ve got a zillion clogged-up Bic pens in all my pen holders? Maybe I need to shoot them through blocks of pine every now and then. Or grease them up with butter. [/QUOTE] I dunno, why do I have a Fisher Space Pen, that’s just as clogged up and smearing ink all over the place? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/13 "2008-03-19T16:53:19Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] I dunno, why do I have a Fisher Space Pen, that’s just as clogged up and smearing ink all over the place? 😛 [/QUOTE] Meh. Those are only good for [getting you off the Moon.](http://www.allwrite.nl/?incl=article-apollo-11) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bic-pen-works-after-being-shot-out-of-a-gun/441891/14 "2008-03-19T19:52:28Z")
No Bic pen commercial thread would be complete without mentioning this [monster.](http://youtube.com/watch?v=luSJ1AlcaaU)