Tracing a Fad
The objective of this task was to trace a fad in any TWO WORD business concept. A fad is “something that people are interested in for only a short period of time” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2011). The fad I searched on the EBSCO database was “Product Innovation”.
The Graph below shows the decade wise usage of the term Product Innovation by trade publications, academic journals, reports, books and other references.

In the initial decade spanning 1920 to 1930, there were only 25 publications that indicated the use of the fad “marketing strategy”. The number was extremely modest; hence it was not surprising that by the end of the second decade of 1930 to 1940, the number doubled. Even though the number is low, there is a good indication that the “fad” was in use as early as the 1930s. The exposure of readers to the initial number of publications may have contributed to the doubling of the then fresh publications relating to marketing strategy. Surprisingly the decade ranging between 1940 and 1950, the publications developed by three times; which was an indication the readers were still consuming the marketing strategy information. This means that “marketing strategy” as a fad was getting used more frequently than was the case in the 1920s and the 1930s. The increase in the use could be argued against the term “fad”; because there was a steady rise in the use; when it should have been a temporary use of something, as defined in the Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionary.
There was a similar pattern for decade 1950 to 1960 where the publications quadrupled; meaning that the interest kept increasing. The momentum for the “marketing strategy” from 1930 till 1980 was only increasing approximately at 4 times each decade. This was a steady increase in the use of the term for a long time. However, the fat actually “took-off” after 1980 where the increase started getting more than four times the previous recorded. Such an increase proved wrong the concept of fad because the interest in the “marketing strategy” has been constantly increasing, and sharply increasing in the later part of the graph.
For instance, in the 1990s, the increase was sharp increase in the use of the fad. This could be attributed to many factors, such as the use of marketing in other industries and or the