They were realists from the start. They knew the marketplace was already saturated with products like theirs. In truth, their product wasn't even as flashy and interesting as some of the others. So Patrick and Christina Tetrick of Wichita, Kan., did what any worried manufacturers would do: They hired a public relations firm.
By the time the Tetricks rolled out their product on April 5 — a beautiful set of quadruplet boys — they had a logo and a Web site, using a patriotic theme to capitalize on Patrick Tetrick's service as a master sergeant in the Army Reserve.
Their efforts have landed them an eight-passenger Chevy van that has been nicknamed the Quadmobile — plus diapers, car seats, clothes and gift certificates for dinners. They are soliciting donations to the Quad Fund (complete with a toll-free number).
Some say the Tetricks' unapologetic campaign is unseemly and exploitive. Others say they're just being good parents; they have to do whatever is necessary to keep a roof over their heads and sneakers on all those feet.
"I don't think people should judge without being in the position," Christina Tetrick said recently.
One day after the Tetrick births, at another hospital across town, Sondra Headrick gave birth to sextuplets. She and her husband didn't hire a PR firm but allowed the Wichita Eagle full access to their lives. The resulting series of front-page articles attracted donations that have, like the Tetricks', included money, a van, car seats and the like.
Welcome to the fertility frontier, where multiple births have become so common that to draw substantial media attention a mother has to deliver a brood populous enough to stage the chariot scene in "Ben Hur."
Between 1980 and 1998, as more women used fertility drugs, the rate of triplet-or-more births increased more than fivefold. In 2000, 506 sets of quadruplets and 77 sets of quintuplets (or more) were born in the United States, according to the National Vital Statistics Reports.
So the competition is fierce for free Pampers and potties, especially with the Dilley sextuplets and the McCaughey septuplets on the scene. The Dilleys' lives have been chronicled by ABC's Diane Sawyer.
The McCaugheys landed a book deal, went on the lecture circuit and secured corporate endorsements.
In such a marketplace, the Tetricks had to play hardball. After all, their children are just quads. Yes, there is some marketing advantage in the fact the four babies are two sets of identical twins — a 1-in-25 million occurrence, doctors say. But it's hardly enough to let publicity take its natural course.
Maybe the Tetricks are doing the right thing by their children. They can't afford to raise the quads on an Army sergeant's salary. Yet I can't help recalling the letter the three surviving Dionne quintuplets wrote to Time magazine after the McCaughey septuplets were born in 1997.
"Multiple births should not be confused with entertainment," they wrote, "nor should they be an opportunity to sell products." I imagine it is no easy task to develop an individual identity as a quadruplet or sextuplet. Sporting a group logo can't help.
E-mail joanryan@sfchronicle.com.
Scripps Howard News Service