Obscure Demand Function Factoid

So does this mean people are irrational?

two words "King Kong"

Today it is hard to imagine the impact the original movie had. At the time the movie was the closest thing to a comic book ever filmed. Strength, adventure, fantasy, bright lights in the big city.

A more mundane observation - animals sell. Tigers and bears and big cats were on many magazines. But Kong had it all.

Some Christian business owners put a stylized fish on their advertising and product packaging. I've seen plenty of fish on business cards too. Maybe this stimulates demand just like gorillas do?

It's supposed to be an ancient custom, but I've never seen any old examples of its commercial use. My theory is that the fish thing became popular due to the success of The Robe (book 1942, movie 1953) which Wikipedia compares to The Da Vinci Code in social resonance.

In The Robe, fish are used to secretly let others know your faith. Carved on melon rinds, if I recall. Amazing how things get imbedded in the public consciousness.

Who doesn't like gorillas? They're hard to resist.

On May 31, 1985, an F5 tornado hit Niles, Ohio. It destroyed a number of businesses. But, as tornados do, it spared Carol's Ceramic Center, while destroying businesses on either side.

As the photo here shows, Carol's Ceramic Center had a large ceramic gorilla out front. If you were to have driven through this area a few years later, you might have noticed that all the rebuilt businesses had a gorilla somewhere -- painted on the side of the building, watching over the parking lot, etc.

Gorillas lend themselves to superstition.