Word: fad
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...Fad drinks generally provide a clue to the changing public palate, and today's In concoctions indicate a trend toward blandness: the Dirty Mother (brandy and Kahlua, a liqueur that tastes like sweetened coffee), the Half-and-Half (half Scotch and half milk or cream), the My Diane (gin and cordials with orange juice and coconut milk) and such relatively innocuous favorites as Dubonnet on the rocks and Campari and soda. Today a bar must carry 50% more brands and be prepared to make a 100% greater assortment of drinks than ten years...
Despite recessions in several countries, Lego's holiday sales on the Continent were running up to 20% ahead of last year's pace. What makes that perform ance all the more impressive is the fact that Lego thrives in the fad-ridden toy industry with just one main product line: construction kits consisting of interlocking, precision-molded plastic blocks that can be fashioned into almost any shape or mosaiclike pattern...
Nothing is deader than yesteryear's fad, or so at least moan merchants who have been stuck with unsalable stocks of Yo-yos, Davy Crockett hats and Batman costumes. Until six weeks ago, the same could have been said of Hula Hoops, which in a profitable six months in 1958 racked up worldwide sales of 70 million. But Wham-O Manufacturing Corp., which started the first craze, had a hunch that hoops were good for another twirl. The novelty that was needed was noise. So Wham-O put half-a-dozen ¼-in.-diameter ball bearings inside each hollow...
...high cost of drinks (usually $1.50) at the topless bars. But the chief cause may be simple overexposure. "When you've seen two," said a wag, "you've seen them all." Ray Goman of San Francisco's Gay 60's, who expects the fad to fade out by next summer, notes that his male employees trip over topless dancers every night of the week without batting an eye, but still swivel their heads sharply when a pretty girl walks in-fully clothed...
Horrified Epicures. French doctors still prescribe it as a health food: it is low in fat-a prime consideration for liver-conscious Frenchmen-and high in protein and minerals. But yogurt has long since transcended the fad-food stigma. Though epicures gag at the thought, some Paris restaurants serve it at dessert time, right alongside the Brie, Chevre and Camembert...