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Creator of the Pet Rock, Gary Dahl, Dies at Age 78
Time ^ | 04/01/2015

Posted on 04/01/2015 7:15:30 AM PDT by Wolfie

Creator of the Pet Rock, Gary Dahl, Dies at Age 78

Gary Dahl's invention of the pet rock made him a millionaire after it went on sale in 1975.

Gary Dahl, the creator of the Pet Rock—”one of the most ridiculously successful marketing schemes ever,” Newsweek once said—died at age 78 on March 23.

Dahl first came up with the concept as joke while working as a freelance copywriter, but the idea of a minimal-effort “pet” and its clever packaging resonated with the times—and quickly made him a millionaire after the rocks went on sale for $3.95 apiece in 1975, the New York Times reports. “People are so damn bored, tired of all their problems,” Dahl told People that year. “This takes them on a fantasy trip—you might say we’ve packaged a sense of humor.”

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: petrock; seventies; the70s
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1 posted on 04/01/2015 7:15:30 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Wolfie

Bob Seger – Like A Rock

Stood there boldly
Sweatin’, in the sun
Felt like a million
Felt like number one
The height of summer
I’,d never felt that strong
Like a rock

I was eighteen
Didn’t have a care
Working for peanuts
Not a dime to spare
But I was lean and
Solid everywhere
Like a rock

My hands were steady
My eyes were clear and bright
My walk had purpose
My steps were quick and light
And I held firmly
To what I felt was right
Like a rock

Like a rock, I was strong as I could be
Like a rock, nothin’, ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock

And I stood arrow straight
Unencumbered by the weight
Of all these hustlers and their schemes
I stood proud, I stood tall
High above it all
I still believed in my dreams

Twenty years now
Where’,d they go?
Twenty years
I don’,t know
I sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they’,ve gone

And sometimes late at night
When I’,m bathed in the firelight
The moon comes callin’, a ghostly white
And I recall
I recall

Like a rock, standin’, arrow straight
Like a rock, chargin’, from the gate
Like a rock, carryin’, the weight
Like a rock

Like a rock, the sun upon my skin
Like a rock, hard against the wind
Like a rock, I see myself again
Like a rock...............


2 posted on 04/01/2015 7:18:50 AM PDT by Red Badger (Man builds a ship in a bottle. God builds a universe in the palm of His hand.............)
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To: Wolfie
one of the most ridiculously successful marketing schemes ever,”

It probably was the most ridiculously successful marketing scheme ever . . . . until the Kardashians came along . . . . .

3 posted on 04/01/2015 7:19:06 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: Wolfie; Slings and Arrows; GeronL; Squawk 8888

ROCK MUSIC PING!

“I Am A Rock” - Simon and Garfunkel

I am a rock,
I am an island.
And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.


4 posted on 04/01/2015 7:22:19 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: Opinionated Blowhard
As much as I'm puzzled by the Kardashian thing, Mr. Dahl had poeple bying a rock. In a box. With airholes. I mean, that's genius.


5 posted on 04/01/2015 7:22:36 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Wolfie

Gary Dahl was a visionary, but I don’t think even he could imagine at the time that we’d elect one president in 2008 and again in 2012.


6 posted on 04/01/2015 7:23:32 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Red Badger

“Everybody must get stoned” - Bob Dylan


7 posted on 04/01/2015 7:23:59 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: Wolfie

And a year later, they elected Mr. Peanut.


8 posted on 04/01/2015 7:24:52 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: Wolfie
...one of the most ridiculously successful marketing schemes ever...

It's ridiculous success does not hold a candle to that of the ridiculous marketing scheme that hoodwinked millions of people in to electing Barack Obama president of the United States...

...twice.

9 posted on 04/01/2015 7:25:20 AM PDT by WayneS (Barack Obama makes Neville Chamberlin look like George Patton.)
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To: Wolfie
The ‘air holes’ were a nice touch....rocks gotta breathe.
10 posted on 04/01/2015 7:25:39 AM PDT by JPG (The GOPe will always find a way to surrender)
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To: Wolfie

The man was a genius. RIP.


11 posted on 04/01/2015 7:26:56 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: Wolfie

I wonder if he’ll have a pet tombstone with air holes...


12 posted on 04/01/2015 7:27:52 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: Wolfie
When I asked for one my parents told me to capture and tame a wild rock.
13 posted on 04/01/2015 7:28:17 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Darth Obama on 529 plans: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.)
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To: a fool in paradise

Rock Me Baby
Song by B.B. King, Eric Clapton

Rock me baby, rock me all night long
Rock me baby, honey, rock me all night long
I want you to rock me baby,
Like my back ain’t got no bone
Roll me baby, like you roll a wagon wheel
I want you to roll me baby,
Like you roll a wagon wheel
Want you to roll me baby,
You don’t know how it makes me feel
Rock me baby, honey, rock me slow
Yeah, rock me pretty baby, baby rock me slow
Want you to rock me baby, till I want no more


14 posted on 04/01/2015 7:28:31 AM PDT by Red Badger (Man builds a ship in a bottle. God builds a universe in the palm of His hand.............)
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To: Wolfie; All
WE had TWO!...the little books were a riot!

15 posted on 04/01/2015 7:29:03 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass ("Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." Hedy Lamarr)
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To: Wolfie

PT Barnum knew.


16 posted on 04/01/2015 7:29:10 AM PDT by traderrob6
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To: Wolfie

What’s your take on Al Gore’s claim as to his having Invented The Pet Rock??


17 posted on 04/01/2015 7:29:11 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><>)
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To: Wolfie

I could only get my pet rock to obey one command: “Stay!”


18 posted on 04/01/2015 7:30:02 AM PDT by NCLaw441
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To: MeshugeMikey

“What’s your take on Al Gore’s claim as to his having Invented The Pet Rock??

Definitely true. I was there when Gary invented the Pet Rock with Al gore.

—Brian Williams


19 posted on 04/01/2015 7:31:10 AM PDT by max americana (fired liberals in our company last election, and I laughed while they cried (true story))
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To: Wolfie

He used to hang out at the OAK in Los Gatos.


20 posted on 04/01/2015 7:33:03 AM PDT by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches and get with what's real.)
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