PET ROCK

Do you know about FAD?

FAD means “ A style or activity that suddenly becomes popular but which usually does not stay popular for very long”. Today I will be talking about one of the most craziest Fads where people used to buy rocks as pet and it was called "Pet Rock".

In the year 1975 Gary Dahl was having drinks at a bar with friends, the conversation turned to the destructive nature of pets. Dogs and cats ruined furniture. Worse, they required constant attention. Dahl said that he didn’t have to worry about any of that because he had a “pet rock.”

It was, of course, a joke. And it got a laugh. But Dahl decided there could be more to it than that. He went home and began writing a 12 page long owner’s manual for this hypothetical pet rock. The gag was not so much the rock itself but the way it was presented. In addition to the manual, Dahl conceived of a cardboard box with air holes that resembled the kind used by pet shops.

Dahl, however, knew what he was marketing. Dahl believed people would see the inane nature of the Pet Rock and recognize the humor of it. He boxed the rocks with the manual and packed them in excelsior. The rocks were purchased from a local sand and gravel company, which sourced them from Mexico’s Rosarita Beach. Dahl debuted the rock at a gift show in San Francisco in August of 1975, then waited for a reaction.

He got one. People understood the appeal right away and he began taking orders. Neiman Marcus wanted 1000 rocks. Bloomingdale’s later signed on. His bar joke was turning into a national phenomenon. When the holiday season arrived, Dahl sold between 1.3 and 1.5 million of rocks within a period of just a few months making 95 cents in profit on each Pet Rock sold, Dahl earned over $1 million.

The humor was transient soon and people had moved on with-in a year and the Fad ended. However, it was a great marketing gimmick which made a fortune for him.