Novelty:Pet Rock

This Pet Rock is a 2000 remake of the 1975 fad. In 1975, Gary Dahl, a California advertising man, dreamed up the notion and shipped it to a San Francisco gift show in August 1975. The idea was so-o-o absurd, everyone had to have one. A Pet Rock was nothing more than a smooth stone from San Rosarita Beach in Mexico that cost Dahl a penny at a local builder's supply store. Dahl
packaged the Pet Rock in excelsior and placed it and a little booklet in a small cardboard box fashioned to resemble a pet carrier. Dahl's silly "Pet Rock Training Manual" offered advice on turning the stone into a well-behaved pet. In a matter of months, Dahl's creation captured the country's imagination. "Newsweek" magazine ran a story about Pet Rocks, as did about 75 percent of the nation's newspapers. More than one million Pet Rocks sold by Christmas 1975,
but in the bicentennial year, the fad was over. The Pet Rock points to the influence of mass media and pop culture on the American public.