When in TIME magazine did the article about the red stapler from the
cult movie "Office Space" (with a picture of Melvin, the boomer nerd)
show up?

The article appeared in the August 11, 2003 issue of "Time" (Vol. 162 No. 6).

Here is an excerpt from the online version of the magazine:

"Edward T. McAvoy, production designer of the 1999 film Office Space,
was pondering ways to accessorize that film's geeky character Milton
and latched onto a stapler. He wondered, What could I do as a designer
to make this stapler special so as to justify Milton's need to possess
it and the bosses' need to covet it? He decided to make it fire-engine
red. 'I called Swingline and said, 'Do you make a red stapler?' and
they said no,' McAvoy recalls. 'And I said, 'Well, do you mind if I
use your logo on the side of a stapler I'm going to paint red?' They
didn't mind at all.' McAvoy took four Swingline staplers to a local
auto-body shop and told the workers he wanted them 'perfectly painted,
just like you'd paint a car.' He later added a computer-rendered logo.

Once the film was released, buyers began asking for the red stapler.
But Swingline didn't make it. 'We concluded we really needed to put a
red stapler on the market,' says Bruce Neapole, Swingline's president.
He says Swingline continues to sell thousands each month of what it
calls the Rio Red Stapler."

Time Online Edition: Cue the Stapler!
http://www.time.com/time/insidebiz/article/0,9171,1101030811-472856,00.html

To buy a copy of this issue (which will enable you to obtain the photo
of "Milton" which appeared with the article), contact Time's back
issue department at 1-800-843-8463.

Google Web Search: "red" + "swingline" + "time magazine"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=red+swingline+%22time+magazine

I hope this information is helpful. If anything is unclear, please
request clarification; I'll gladly offer further assistance before you
rate my answer.

Best wishes,
pinkfreud

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 11 Nov 2003 16:07 PST

My good friend, Google Answers Researcher voila-ga, has passed an
interesting link along to me. This site has republished a story from
the Wall Street Journal about "Office Space" and Milton's red stapler:

MDAC
http://www.mdac.net/weeklyphoto/archives/00000025.shtml

~pinkfreud

Thanks for looking up the Time article AND finding the WSJ matching
article.  I was in final exams and just didn't have time.  Great
research!  Worth the $$$.  (Hey I'm a student, so you get tipped in
vapor blown kisses!)