Inspiration came to Gary Dahl without leaving any epic mark. He had his Eureka moment at a bar in the small town of Los Gatos, California, in the mid-70s. It was night. A drunken night. And Dahl was absently listening to his friends complain about the problems their dogs and cats were causing them, and he cracked a joke: Dahl assured him that his pet didn’t need any care. Reason? He wasn’t covered in fur, feathers, or scales, and he certainly didn’t need a walk, his sandbox changed, or his feeder filled.

“I have a stone for a pet,” he explained to his confused colleagues.

It may sound crazy or like a bar counter joke, but the truth is that Dahl’s idea was a good one. Enough to make him a millionaire and bring to life an idea that still triumphs today among Seoul’s stressed-out office workers.

To explain this, it is better to start from the end.

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From stress and stones. South Korea is one of the countries with the highest average annual working hours. The 1,910 hours with long 52-hour working weeks is surpassed by only four countries and is well above countries such as France, Japan or Spain. Statista reminds that a survey on work stress was conducted in the country in 2022, and 62.2 percent of those interviewed said they felt anxiety in their position in the last two weeks. What’s more, when asked to dig deeper, 12.7% admitted to feeling a lot of stress.

This being the case, it is not surprising that there are South Koreans who like to have a pet waiting for them when they leave the office and arrive home after a long and tiring day at work. The problem is that dogs need to be walked. Cats, canaries, iguanas, hamsters, fish, guinea pigs and other traditional pets also require significant care.

So…why not go beyond traditional pets with fur, feathers or scales and get a rock? Exactly the same. A beautiful, polished, heavy and, above all, inanimate piece of rock that does not require much attention.

the rock of my loves. The above may seem shocking, but owning a rock as a pet has become so popular in South Korea that Wall StreetJournal just devoted an extensive report to this phenomenon. A film in which he talks to South Koreans who decided to share their time and open their hearts to small pieces of polished mineral. Some of them have names. Some have faces.

They know they are just lifeless rocks, but they still realize that treating them like pets helps them cope with their daily lives. He lives alone in Seoul and last year received a strange gift from one of his friends: a stone.

“I’ll make sure you’re okay.”. The quote within the quote is from Ko Hyun-seo, one of the South Koreans joining the weird pet rocks trend. His situation is slightly different from Lee’s. He is 28 years old and lives in Gimje, North Jeolla Province. He added a pair of bright eyes, eyebrows and a straw hat to his rock, which he called “Is It Real”, giving him a unique and funny look. He says the presence of singing comforts him. Nothing else. No less.

“Every day when I come home, I look at the rock to make sure it’s okay,” Ko admits. A similar statement is shared by Lee, a thirty-something researcher at a pharmaceutical company who joined the rock trend during a particularly challenging time. in the laboratory. He names his pet Hongduggae and shows him wrapped in a towel with two big, bulging, gooey eyes: “From time to time I would complain to my family about how difficult my work day was. Of course, it’s an inanimate object that can’t understand you, but it’s like talking to your dog and it’s comforting in a way.” it could be.”

“feeling of peace”. There are more testimonies, although they all point in the same direction. Where most of us see rocks, those who choose to join this trend see something else: an innocent, simple and fairly economical way to escape, or simply a way to make their routine a little more bearable.

“There’s a certain sense of peace knowing that this natural rock has gone through a lot to reach its current state,” says Koo Ah-young, another 33-year-old office worker from Seoul. Like Lee, he tried his luck during a particularly stressful period at work, changing equipment and adapting to his new duties. WITH TWSJ He explains that he didn’t want to make his concerns known to his friends or family, so he started doing it on a fearless rock, eventually even giving it a name: “Bang-bang-i.” He carries it with him in his pocket when he goes to the gym or goes for a walk.

But… What about Gary Dahl? South Korea’s new trend may seem to have little in common with the boozy soiree that Dahl and his colleagues staged in California in the mid-1970s, but that just seems to be the case. Both episodes (what happened to Dahl that day nearly half a century ago, and what happens to Koo or Lee now) actually have an interesting connection: rocks. And its potential.

For Dahl, a businessman and advertiser, this comment made him realize that selling stones as pets was crazy enough that if he decided to use the idea on a commercial level, it could end in two ways: either a massive crash or a million-dollar business. . In his case it was the latter.

Pet Rocks (and millions of dollars). Dahl worked with two colleagues who helped him undertake the investment. He went to a building supply store and bought piles of stones, smooth and polished pieces from the Mexican coast. But if his idea was a resounding success, it wasn’t because of the product itself (there are gems everywhere), but rather because of its ingenious packaging. marketing accompanying him.

Renamed Pet Rock, each rock was placed in a cardboard box with ventilation holes and a soft wood wool base. The package is completed with a final nod: a fun guide on how to feed, care for, and train Gems. Eccentric? Maybe. Successful? Definitely.

as you remember New York TimesPet Rock was released just in time to sneak into the 1975 Christmas campaign, and its provocative and casual concept quickly caught the attention of newspapers and television.

Stones worth millions. These rocks, which came with a box, bearing, and instruction manual, were a commercial success. For at least a few months, Pet Rock fever continued, and they went out of fashion as quickly as they triumphed. It is estimated that 1.5 million stones were sold in this short period. They’re $3.95 each, which isn’t bad considering Dahl only paid one cent for each stone.

The journalist earned so much money that he eventually opened his own bar. And although this has registered the Pet Rock trademark, it has not been able to prevent the emergence of imitators who devote themselves to selling stones placed in boxes.

From USA… to South Korea. Pet Rock had its heyday in the United States a few decades ago, but that hasn’t stopped the concept from resurfacing in South Korean cities thousands of miles away. It’s not the Dahl branding behind the Asian version, nor the ’70s and ’20s approaches that completely overlap – Koreans probably go to the rocks to seek tranquility rather than jokes with a ’70s hook – but the basic idea is the same. That a song can be more than just a song.

A clearly visible success. If there’s anything in common between American fashion in ’75 and South Korea’s current fashion beyond stardom with stones, it’s that both can have considerable visibility. Homemade rocks aren’t just a home trend, with some Seoul residents growing them in the privacy of their homes. as you remember TWSJA popular actor showed himself in 2021, and there are also K-pop singers who are not afraid to show off their pets.

The company Chess Peace, for example, claims to receive between 150 and 200 orders each month, completing its catalog with options that go far beyond simple grayish pieces. The range of options includes, for example, rose quartz “love stone”. Rocks are often rich and rounded, usually purchased for $7.50 to $11, and accessories such as glasses, hats or scarves can also be added. Some are characterized by already drawn faces; and in other cases it is their respective owners who are responsible for customizing them.

Those responsible for the original Pet Rock brand say they are already testing the Indian market and are working on an AI Pet Rock that will allow their strange pets to talk to their owners. Their languages ​​include Korean, of course.

Pictures | Jody McIntyre (Flickr) and Webmontag Frankfurt (Flickr) (Cover image was taken in Japan and does not match the fashion style of the post)

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via | Wall StreetJournal