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Fads

may be lowered during the growth stage to attract new
customers. Product life cycle of fads
The fourth stage of the PLC, maturity, is a period of
slow sales growth and leveling-off or declining profits.
Most potential buyers have been reached, so no new cus-
tomers are buying the product. This stage presents the
greatest challenges to marketers. To prevent entering the
decline stage, research and development departments may
make product modifications to meet the changing needs
of consumers, distribution becomes selective again, and
advertising becomes competitive because of the number of
competitors who have entered the market.
Sales slow and profits drop in the decline stage, usu- Sales
ally because of advances in technology, a shift in consumer
taste, or increased competition. Distribution becomes
exclusive, and sales promotions are developed. Products in
the decline stage should have their sales, market share,
costs, and profit trends regularly reviewed so that man-
agers can decide whether to maintain the product, harvest
the product (reduce various costs associated with the
product), or drop the product from the product line.

THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF
Time
FADS
The Hula Hoop has been called the “greatest fad of them
Figure 1
all.” Developed in 1957 by Wham-O creators Richard
Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin, it was modeled after an
Australian toy. A prototype was developed and tested on
U.S. playgrounds and was found to have the longest play Within a few months, Dahl had sold a million rocks and
value. After only four months on the market, 25 million became an instant millionaire. By the next February, sales
Hula Hoops had been sold. In less than a year, sales had had stopped.
almost completely stopped and competition was increas- Unlike the Hula Hoop, the Pet Rock was not tested
ing, so Wham-O entered foreign markets and its success during the product development stage. Dahl had the idea
continued. Collectively, toy manufacturers made $45 mil- for the product and quickly produced it with no market
lion off the Hula Hoop. testing. Similar to the Hula Hoop, the Pet Rock caught on
The life cycle of the Hula Hoop was not typical of quickly with consumers, reached its life-cycle peak at the
most products. A prototype was developed and tested dur- growth stage, and dipped down into the decline stage in a
ing the product development stage, but the Hula Hoop very short period of time.
bypassed the introduction stage and, with rapid sales, the
Artist Xavier Roberts created Cabbage Patch Kids,
toy quickly entered the growth stage. Again, the Hula
originally called “Little People,” in 1977. The cloth doll
Hoop skipped the maturity stage and went directly into
the decline stage, with sales coming to an almost immedi- was “delivered” at BabyLand General Hospital, a former
ate halt. Other fads’ life cycles have followed this model. medical clinic in Cleveland, Georgia, where Roberts had
his employees dress in white nurses’ and doctors’ uni-
Gary Dahl created the Pet Rock in the 1970s, com-
plaining that dogs, cats, and other pets were too messy, forms. Sales of the dolls were termed adoptions, and each
misbehaved, and expensive. Instead, Dahl had a pet rock doll came with a birth certificate and adoption papers.
that was easy to care for and cheap; it also had a great per- Roberts sold 250,000 dolls at prices ranging from $125 to
sonality. Dahl wrote the Pet Rock Training Manual and $1,000. National Cabbage Patch mania struck when
created the Pet Rock out of a Rosarita Beach Stone that Roberts signed a contract with Coleco in 1982, and $25
cost him a penny. In October 1975, Dahl packaged the models started selling all over the United States. Approxi-
Pet Rock in a gift box shaped like a pet carrying case, mately 2.5 million Cabbage Patch Kids were sold in the
included the training manual, and sold it for $3.95. first year on the market, but, like the fads before it, Cab-

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