On October 31, 1973, one of the Japanese ministers appeared on television and asked the Japanese to use toilet paper more economically. It was perhaps the least successful performance of his life. The next day, November 1, hundreds of people lined up outside a supermarket in Osaka and bought all the toilet paper there. When it was reported on the news, other Japanese cities followed Osaka's example. Another official on November 2 tried to correct his colleague's mistake by assuring viewers that there was still a lot of toilet paper in Japan and asking them to calm down. It was like throwing kerosene into a fire. Thousands of people across the country rushed to stores and began stocking up on paper and paper napkins for years to come.

Harold Vernon Frolich, a 41-year-old Republican congressman who represented in Congress a wooded area in Wisconsin. He noticed that he has recently begun to receive complaints from his constituents about reduced wood pulp flow. Frolich released a document that indicated that the National Procurement Center had not granted a request for providing toilet paper to troops and officials. On December 11, the congressman made another, more serious statement: “The United States may face a serious shortage of toilet paper for several months ... We hope that we do not have to issue toilet paper by cards ... Regarding the shortage, this is not a joke, but a real problem, which could potentially affect every American. " These words became a spark from which panic flared up ...

Popular TV journalist Johnny Carson took up the congressman's words and joked about the toilet paper shortage on The Tonight Show: “Everyone knows that we are running out of products today,” he told 20 million viewers. - Have you heard the latest news? I am not kidding. I read about it in the papers. There is a shortage of toilet paper now! "

After that, millions of Americans rushed together to sweep toilet paper from store shelves. It didn't help that Carson announced the very next day that his words were just a joke and that he did not want to cause panic: the deficit continued.

So, it is not some recent thing that happened in spring and will happen again soon.