He Sold Rocks as Pets. He Made a Million Dollars.

In April 1975, Gary Dahl was sitting in a bar in Los Gatos, California, listening to his friends complain about their pets. Dogs needed walking. Cats scratched furniture. Fish tanks were a hassle. Dahl, an advertising executive, joked that the perfect pet was a rock. No feeding, no walking, no vet bills.

The Packaging Was the Product

Most people would have let the joke die at the bar. Dahl went home and spent the next two weeks writing a 32-page instruction manual for how to care for your new pet rock. The booklet included tips on how to train your rock to "sit" and "stay" (already mastered), how to teach it to "roll over" (requires a hill), and how to housebreak it (place on newspaper). The manual was the entire product. The rock itself was a smooth grey stone from Rosarita Beach in Baja, Mexico - chosen because it was cheap and uniform.

Each rock came nestled on a bed of excelsior straw inside a custom cardboard box with air holes punched in the sides, like a pet carrier. Retail price: $3.95.

A Fad That Hit Like a Freight Train

Dahl debuted the Pet Rock at a San Francisco gift show in August 1975. Neiman Marcus ordered 1,000 units. Bloomingdale's followed. Then came appearances on The Tonight Show and coverage in newspapers across the country. By the Christmas season, Dahl estimated he was selling 100,000 Pet Rocks a day.

In total, he sold roughly 1.5 million rocks at $3.95 each, clearing about 95 cents profit per unit. The math: over $1.4 million in profit in roughly six months - the equivalent of about $8 million today. The fad was dead by February 1976.

After the Rock

Dahl tried to replicate the success with other novelty products, including "sand breeding kits" and a book called Advertising for Dummies. None came close. He reportedly grew tired of being known as "the Pet Rock guy" but could never fully escape it.

He died in 2015 at age 78. His obituary led with the Pet Rock.