One of the great things about consumer capitalism is that it continuously generates the New. Thousands of new concepts are generated by thousands of creative, inventive people. Some of these succeed in establishing themselves, but most don't. It could be that the concept wasn't very good, didn't really solve an important problem-or if it did, it wasn't practical for whatever reason, perhaps it just didn't taste very good. And there are many ideas that do grab hold of the public imagination for a moment, but after a short while pass from the scene with hardly a trace. Will Dr. Atkins have the same place in our vernacular five years from now?

So why are some ideas ephemeral and pass quickly from view, while others have greater longevity? The answer lies in understanding the difference between a fad and a trend. Fads are transient cultural phenomena, and trends are phenomena in the culture that dynamically establish themselves with more staying power. Fads are shooting stars; trends are comets.

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