The original stress shape was most likely the spherical ball shape. Made of a malleable material like foam or filled with gel or powder, the ball could be held in one's hand, was squeezable and convenient to carry around.



Squeezing the stress shape was a way to give vent to your emotions and often provided temporary relief to emotional stress. Because modern life is highly tension inducing, these balls became quickly popular.

Squeezing a stress shape was also good exercise for the hands and wrists. It improved blood circulation and strengthened hand and arm muscles. Arthritis patients found it a high value product.

Stress Balls Become Stress Shapes

Businesses found that stress balls are good as promotional giveaways, because thery were inexpensive, useful and interesting. However, businesses preferred shapes that were relevant to their business. A pharma firm might prefer a medicine capsule shape, a builder might go for house shape, and so on.

Producing the balls in different shapes also added to their marketability. Quirky and amusing shapes fascinated people. And themed shapes like a musical instrument, golf ball or locomotive would be particularly appealing to enthusiasts of each theme.

And shapes like a shouting boss might appeal to sufferers of abuse from their bosses. They could take out their anger by doing what they want to the boss shape.

Shapes like diamond, rhombus and oval could help students who have difficulty understanding these more complex shapes. It might reduce their learning stress!

Stress shapes in all imaginable forms, animals, birds, humans, bugs, cartoon characters, jigsaw puzzles, moneybags, vehicles and everyday objects, flooded the markets.

Businesses Are the Major Customers for Stress Shapes

We saw above that businesses found stress shapes and ideal promotional item. They could hand it out to seminar participants, trade show visitors, customers and employees. Because the items were both useful and interesting, they were unlikely to be thrown away.

The stress shapes were imprinted with the company logo and a promotional message. They were thus tools for improving brand recognition and goodwill generation.

Probably the most important factor in making stress shapes a popular promotional item was the low cost. In addition to being useful and interesting, the stress ball was also inexpensive. Ordered in bulk, these shapes cost very little compared to their impact on recipients.

The Appeal of Stress Shapes

It is the variety of shapes that could be said to underlie their popularity. This variety helps break the monotony of office work and other daily routines. There was a shape to suit every taste.

And they also came in different colors, consistencies, textures and sizes. They also come in the form of putty, in glowing colors, that you could work upon and transform into any shape.

No wonder these low cost (often free) items have become so popular.

Conclusion

Stress shapes are functional in that they relieve stress and are good for exercising hands and wrists. Additionally, they provide welcome distraction from monotony through the varied shapes, colors, textures and sizes in which they come. Because of these factors stress shapes have become popular business promotional giveaways.