Just In Time for Father's Day

High demand has slowed to a manageable interest and at its peak the 'Iraqi Most Wanted' deck of cards fad didn't surpass ad man Gary Dahl's 1976 record of pet rock sales [1.5 million]. But what I find interesting about this story besides the role the internet played in the marketers' success is this;

"This fad was related to a war that was going to be so short that it would be difficult for a Target or a Kmart to buy the product and get it into 2,000 stores before the war was over," said Dan Head, the vice president for e-commerce at SportsLine, which sold the GreatUSA cards on its site and by e-mail.

The success of this campaign was dependent upon hitting a very small window of opportunity... Americans with attention spans so short that popularity of the cards wouldn't outlast the war itself.

These marketing gurus claim to have a handle on what these customers will continue to bite on based on sales of items like red, white and blue plastic foam car antenna balls. Boxer shorts with flags on them just in time for Father's Day.

And they wonder why they hate us.