3. The Pet Rock
In 1975, Gary Dahl convinced the world to buy… rocks. Not fancy crystals, just ordinary grey pebbles from a building supply store, placed in cardboard boxes with air holes and straw bedding. He marketed them as low-maintenance pets, complete with a tongue-in-cheek training manual. The idea struck a bizarre cultural chord and over 1.5 million Pet Rocks were sold.
This novelty product earned Dahl millions before fizzling out, but its success showed that humor can be a potent marketing tool. The absurdity of adopting a literal rock tapped into a mix of irony and consumer boredom. It may have been a fad, but it also became a business school case study and a lesson in how dumb ideas can turn into brilliant profits—if you package them just right.
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