Fads: Love them or hate them

Have you ever thought that having a dog or cat as a pet is too messy?

Are you looking for a pet that does what it's told?

Then you need a Pet Rock.

Believe it or not the Pet rock was invented as an alternative to the common pet for those people who were looking for a no fuss, no mess option. Gary Dahl was the brains behind the idea, selling the pet rock in a small cardboard box that was made to look like pet cargo box. He even wrote a manual on how to look after your pet rock, some of the instructions he included were;

-How to make your pet rock play dead

-How to house train your pet rock

-How to roll over.

-He old the owner's to place their pet rock onto a sheet of newspaper and it will be fine, it will

never know what the newspaper is for and will never require other instructions.

Three tonnes of stone was used to produce these tiny rocks that many people called their pets. The early ones were simply plain rocks but they soon began to grow personalities with faces and hair being added- some were even sold with birth certificates.

Many people quickly brought this unique product for either themselves or a gift at $3.95 each, with over 1 million being sold in America. Some people even brought several to createa family of pet rocks.

Unlike other fads this was not one that hung around for very long, lasting a mere 2 months. Why any one would want to swallow a goldfish is beyond me, but apparently people did...lots of people.

This strange fad was started by a young boy attending Harvard, Lothrop Withington (what a name!) It is said that he was boasting to many people that he could easily swallow live goldfish and when people dared him to prove it, he did. America was going through the great drepression at the time and so this became a big news story with lots of media coverage.

It wasn't long before many studens were attempting the same act with some reports saying 30 goldfish were swallowed by one boy at one sitting. As the saying goes all 'good' things must come to an end and this is exactly what happened with goldfish swallowing. Bills were passed that made it illegal to swallow goldfish in certain towns and universities threated to expel any students that attempted the act.

Public health authorities soon put in their foot into the situation by announcing that it is not safe for humans to eat live goldfish as they may contract tapeworms.

Amid all the fuss a Professor delcared that a human being could safely eat up to 150 live goldfish! He did however say that it was not recommended.

A fad that I think just about everyone has heard of would have to be Hot Pants, which were around in the 1970s. Yes I'm talking about the decendant of the mini skirt, shorts so small that they were banned from many resturants even though they were as popluar as ever.

There were some companies however, that happily welcomed aboard the hot pants craze, one of them being Allegheny Airlines. They were an Amercian airline company that were around in the 1970s and made hot pants part of their official flight attendant uniforms.

It was not only the flocks of fahsion concious people on the streets flaunting their legs with hot pants, comic cartoons also embraced the fashion. Wonder woman choose a suitable wadrobe of hot pants and long boots to fight the evil characters she came across.

Hot pants do not flood the street today as they did back then, but don't despair they are still around.

Glasses are usually worn for a purpose being either to shield our eyes from the sun or strengthen our vision. The many different frames that accompany the lens have always been a fashion statement with many people choosing bold colours to stand out. One would think that without the lenses our glasses would be absolutely useless having no purpose in the world at all, but in 1965 this is exactly what happened. American kids created what was to be known as glassless glasses (try to say that fast 5 times!) which were exactly what their name suggests- glasses with no lenses. These glasses were said to have been created to make fun of the adults that were following the ‘Clark Kent’ style, by wearing glasses with thick, black rims. It is not surprising to know that this fad did not hang around for very long; by 1970 it was not to be heard of.

Have you ever looked back on a photo of yourself and thought 'what was I thinking?'...
Well I am pretty sure most of us have looked at those pictures and were absolutely horrified with our fashion and style choices at that paticular phase of our lives. But like it or not it is obvious that we were following (or trying to follow) the particular fad that was 'cool' at the time. It is these fads however that seem to be 'out' as soon as they have come 'in' and it can be a very confusing nightmare trying to keep up with the current fads.

Fads are not only seen in fashion however, they are also evident in exercise, diets, hobbies, sports and just about every other aspect of your life that you could imagine.
Even though when we look back we wonder why we choose to follow such an outrageous fad, it is obvious that we had fun following it at the time, This is why I think it is important to look back and have a good laugh at some of the weirdest fads that have sucked people in.