There was news the other day that the creator of the Pet Rock passed away. You would definitely have to be of a certain age to remember the Pet Rock, and have to be a great sentimentalist if you still had the rock, the box and the instructions on how to care for it. For yes, Virginia, there really was a Pet Rock, and Gary Dahl, the inventor has now passed away at 78. And he did become rich over it.
Charlie Brown might famously be given a rock in his trick-or-treat bag at Halloween, but Mr. Dahl came up with the idea while dinking in a bar, where good and bad ideas always start. He was already connected to advertising, so he knew the value of promotion. He wasn't working at the time, but his mind was. Thus, for $3.95 an easy to carry rock was packaged in a brown box (think dirt) with air holes. The rock itself was bedded down inside with caressing excelsior. The box's lettering was attention grabbing, and the instructions were for the caring.
I can still see the boxes of Pet Rocks stacked at the Fifth Avenue Card Store in the Empire State building. The rock was everywhere. And with Christmas coming, and the hardly eye-popping price of $3.95 in 1975, the rock sold. And sold big.
These kinds of wild fire items are like comets: they flash, then burn out. There was once a Laugh Box that laughed annoyingly whenever you opened the lid. There have been other must-have items that have long ago hit the trash. If you used today's language, you would say the sales went viral.
A friend of ours took advantage of the $3.95 price and gave my wife and I a Pet Rock for Christmas. It was of course a gag, and I already knew about the craze. It was a different story for my wife.
She unwrapped the gift, thought it was "cute" and immediately took to caring for the rock by acclimating it to its environment, as the instructions suggested. It was not to be moved for several hours, perhaps days. She placed it on the mantle. The maternal responsibility of care had started.
I didn't realize she really thought this thing was to be cared for until she scolded me for moving it before it was ready.
I am still married to that woman.
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