I used "Corinthian Leather" in my novel. Then I looked it up.

I was writing my new JR Johnson novel when I needed a detail to show readers a character was a phony.

The guy boasts that his office chairs are made of  Soft  Corinthian leather.

If you’re old enough, you immediately hear Ricardo Montalban saying it in that impossibly smooth voice from the old Chrysler Cordoba commercials. Back then, if Ricardo Montalban told America the seats were wrapped in the hides of magical Corinthian cows, we believed him. 

In the scene, JR asks:
“What is Corinthian leather anyhow?”

The guy answers:
“Some kind of leather, I guess. Nobody ever asked me before.”

Turns out, that’s basically the real story.

I looked it up. There is no such thing as Corinthian leather. None. Zero. The ad agency made it up because “soft leather” sounded like a sleazy salesman trying to sell you a Naugahyde sofa. That’s it. Entirely fabricated. Marketing. Add one word: Corinthian, and we all still remember the commercial from the 1970s.

And America responded:

“Take my money immediately.”

Which explains most of modern civilization.

​Words can be powerful.

We buy words, phrases. Luxury branding is basically adult fairy tales. Corinthian leather. Mountain spring water. Artisan-crafted coffee, $12 a pop in NYC, for a  Grande, which is two ounces. Farm-to-table. AI-powered toothbrushes.

Oh, did I mention the new book will be printed on Genuine Corinthian Paper? Sourced only from organic trees, hand curated. A Grande print edition will be available.

​If only Ricardo Montalban was around to narrate the audiobook.