The Rise and Fall of Infomercials

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━SOCIALS━

━COMMUNITY━

━MUSIC━

━BUSINESS━
━CHAPTERS━
00:00 the rise and fall of infomercials
05:22 how did infomercials get invented
08:14 1984 tv advertising policy changes
13:49 the goal of infomercials
17:30 the infomercial formula
18:29 the modern day infomercial
27:35 poo poo pee pee (conclusion)

tags: #infomercials

[notabear]

the one thing i wish was mentioned is that a lot, and i mean A LOT, of these products were made with disabled people in mind. snuggies, egg cracking things, anything that made you go "who's actually that clumsy?" might've been made for disabled people. marketing them to everyone with the "look how convenient!" model means wider success in selling a product. snuggies were especially good for people in wheelchairs. i didn't make fun of infomercials the same way after learning that. there's still fun to poke, but there are some products that were made for people who struggle with mobility or precise motor functions!

[HeisenbergFam]

"are you a weak toddler"
As an ex toddler, I can confirm toddlers being weak is 110% scientifically accurate

[cherry_limead]

At one point when I was younger, I watched a whole infomercial just thinking it was a normal ad and an actual show would start. I was sitting there for three hours watching an infomercial for an airfryer.

[nameramthgin]

The handy stitch was the best info-mecial I ever had the privilege watch. The tag line about how difficult it was to use a regular sewing machine to repair drapes was paired with a video of a woman holding a full sized sewing machine up to her curtains that where still hanging from the window. That clip still lives in my head rent free years later.

[Badusername]

a lot of infomercial products with the whole "person cant do basic thing" setup are really for people with disabilities, but for some reason they never wanna advertise them that way, so they put the inept person the the commercial as a scapegoat

[LidzGaming]

as a kid I'd religiously watch the infomercial channel at night. How my parents didn't know I'm autistic is a mystery to me lmao

[ghstpuppi]

I just remember being 15, stoned out of my mind on my best friend’s couch, watching like a two-hour-long MyPillow infomercial while trying to eat string cheese. Good shit.

[XanderNotZander]

whenever i stay in a hotel, late night teleshopping channels are my comfort, i love it, not cus im interested in buying, its just the format and atmosphere is so good to feel cosy

[.am]

When you said “no one bought from the actual commercial” all I could think about was my family frantically trying to get the number on the tv screen before it went away. We bought a LOT from infomercials over the years.

[briannamcfarland]

OMG the squiggle zigzag paint lady... I completely forgot about her until now but I love her. She seems so excited about her paintings. I would be crushed if it was an exaggerated grift for money

Edit: Good news, she's legit! There's a clip of her, Dee Gruenig, on HGTV showing off her art and home. Her passion isn't just for sponges, but for all art mediums and, like, life in general.
Things she mentions she loves:
photos
organizing nooks and crannies
colors
drawers
pens
relaxing and unwinding
10-year journals

I wish I was 1/4 as happy as this woman.

[lackoliver]

I was raised by infomercials. As a child I would wake up around 4am, but to not wake anyone else, I would tip toe down to the basement and turn the TV on. Being a lazy weak toddler, whatever the channel was, it remained.

I had all the hot goss on the new vacuums, kitchen appliances, DYI fix-em-up kits, art supplies you name it. I was the talk of the town amongst all the neighborhood stay at home moms. Information is power, infomercials made me who I am today. And for the low, low price of 4 equal payments of $13.99.

[Handington]

When I was little, I remember turning on the tv in early hours of the morning, and they had entire movies worth of length, like 2 hours for a serious look at stuff like vacuum cleaners. They'd do tons of tests, especially for Shark vacuum cleaners, and show huge sets where every room would be clean. It felt like it was a serious news report about a miracle product.

[john.glasscock]

I think the reason old commercials are so nostalgic is because we saw them so many times in a day. The shows we watched when we were kids we probably saw an episode one or two times while the infomercials we saw countless times

[KarazolaX]

The way that I remember ads working as a child, was when they'd say THIS OFFER IS NOT IN STORES as though it was some exclusive thing. Like, they didn't WANT to be in stores, or something. So, if you saw one in a store, you'd think 'wow, they have this! I should get it here, instead of waiting for it at home.' Like most product ads, it relies on you forgetting you never even wanted it in the first place.

[Roxanne]

Here, on Dutch television, they would air American as well as German informercials and there are some that still live in my memory and will never quite go away. One was some kind of cooking product, I don't remember what it was, but it starred Mister T who would enter the set by kicking the door down and then they'd just proceed to cook and advertise for an hour.

Another one was from Germany advertising a knife set and I just remember it for how chaotic it was. It was so bad to follow what was going on. One moment the guy is cutting a tomato, the next thing he's tossing the knife around on the floor to show how durable it is, then he's cutting an orange, and then he's showing you the deal you the knife block, and it just never slowed down. There was an announcer standing next to him too the entire time wearing a singular earring who then tried to go 'order now!' but the guy cooking interrupted him like 'no no no, wait, don't order yet, I'm not done talking about this knife!'

[sonicstar]

7:35 I’m an Alaskan and I appreciate someone remembering we exist

[thelittlecaravanner]

The Zoobooks infomercials were so impactful on me as a child that when I found out last year that the Girl Scouts were selling Zoobooks subscriptions, I IMMEDIATELY ordered a one year subscription for myself. I'm 27. I COULDN'T RESIST.

[djpillarbox]

Dang Gabi balls makes good commercials

[JenBelogura]

Billy Meyes is the reason I buy OxiClean as an adult. I love that laundry product

[Brookelwaskow]

I was watching in the background while feeding my 7 month old son and when you started singing at the end he looked up, stopped and smiled fondly hahaha