Selling rocks in 1975 proved to make the perfect pet… 

Gary Dahl generated over $15M after joking around with some friends in a bar in Los Gatos, California.  All of his friends were complaining about their pets – when he quipped that the perfect pet would be a rock.

“My Pet Rock” sold for $3.95 and he sold more than five million of them (profiting about $3 per sale!)

He marketed it amazingly, shocking people by selling rocks packaging them in a cardboard box that looked like a pet carrier, which came complete with little air holes and even a tiny bed of straw.

Also, he had a little 32-page training manual for their pet, giving them tips on how to make them stay, sit, beg and attack!

It came and went quickly, as fads do – but not before it made him a cool $15M.

Martin Abrams tried to sell his Pet Rocks “selling rocks” rights, but it never got the same popularity it did on the original release, but we’ve seen many other ‘fake’ pets come since, most notably, the digital version, Tamagotchi.

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