Infomercial

[ninetyfourintegra]

So, I was at K-Mart today and they had this super secret, limited time only, only if you were in the store right now, but if you were here before you can't go again, Infomercial guy giving away retail product for marketing purposes.

Anyway, I am in product management/marketing, so I am always up for seeing how people react to marketing pitches.

In this case this is what they were selling: http://www.usjesco.com/mr-sticky-lint-roller.aspx

- The mentally challenged (not kidding here, short bus was waiting outside) - - The pitchman couldn't get her to stop agreeing with everything to do his pitch, if she had money she would have bought him out of stock
- The elderly woman - - get to the part where you tell me the cost so that I can write you a check, my husband is a slob and I have to do all the cleaning
- The foreign husband/wife - really I get all of this for Free?, wait, no?, But you said free... Included? Yes. Included in my free package. No? I have to buy it first then get it for free? I don't understand... You said you were giving away stuff.
- The sucker that says they're a skeptic but can't stop tripping over themselves to walk into the pitchman's trap and can't wait to buy 5 of the things they don't need to get the super-duper offer of the 6th for free
- The pitchman that sells you on problems that you don't have. This was interesting stuff. I wonder what it takes to go to sleep at night for some of these folks. Not that this guy was bad but really, who the F uses a traditional lint roller to clean under their bed, the curtains, the ceiling and the steps?

Not saying I haven't ever bought anything I don't need (I mean, shit, I have a race car in the garage - - what's more impractical than that?). But I don't think I have ever bought something from an infomercial or the "as seen on TV" marked items in a store.

So, if you have bought from an infomercial, why? What was it that got you?
If not, what type of marketing typically works on you?

Just curious.

[rrobb]

Never from an infomertial, but when I was 11 my grandparents let me roam off on my own at a big flea-market with money in my pocket... That's when I learned, never buy anything from someone wearing a headset.

[Foz]

I've never bought from an infomercial, but we do have a few "as seen on tv" items.  And to my defense, at least one of them is sold in regular stores without the "seen on tv" label
such as this one: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xiy/R-202048235/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I picked it up after noticing our office maintenance man hanging pictures with them and he really liked them, didn't have to carry tools and left very small holes in the walls.  He bought his originally off the TV, then from a drug store with a "as seen on tv" department.  When we moved I found them at Home Depot.  Now the wife can hang pictures, and I don't have to worry about hammer imprints.

And then there's the other: http://www.amazon.com/Aqua-Globes-Set-Four-Seen/dp/B002YX921Y
This one her mom bought at an "as seen on tv" store at the mall, and turns out they work really well. Now we use them in a couple house plants and they keep them watered...

So I wouldn't buy from an infomercial, but have learned that some of the stuff isn't so bad.  (from other's experience)

[roundel]

Several times recently my wife and I have been very sad to see a product on an infomercial, because it was actually a good useful (if not a little specific) product - and we know that we will never be able to buy one, ever, because we will not ever support that stupid method of getting suckers to hand over their money.

The stupidity will only go away if people stop paying for it.

[rrobb]

The stupidity will only go away if people stop paying for it.

Ding. Ding. Ding. Winner. I've always figured that if something they are pushing on an infomercial is really that usefull / inovative / needed, then in a year or two Cuisinart / Rubermaid / Craftsman will have a better / cheaper version on shelves that you can actually pick up and look at.

[1st v-dub]

No offense, but after working for a marketing and advertising agency for a year, rarely does any type of marketing really appeal to me.  Generally, that was the single worst job I've had in the single most slimy environment.  Selling people crap they don't need at a price they can't afford.  Airborne was one of our clients and after seeing the sheep in the office fall for their ingredient list that was basically 1200% your recommended daily intake of vitamin C, I wanted nothing to do with that agency or business segment.

[Habib88]

No offense, but after working for a marketing and advertising agency for a year, rarely does any type of marketing really appeal to me.  Generally, that was the single worst job I've had in the single most slimy environment.  Selling people crap they don't need at a price they can't afford.  Airborne was one of our clients and after seeing the sheep in the office fall for their ingredient list that was basically 1200% your recommended daily intake of vitamin C, I wanted nothing to do with that agency or business segment.

I've always marveled at Airborne.  Even knowing most of the marketing was BS I still used it.  I never took it before a cold or to prevent one, washing your hands does a better prevention job.  Working if a office if one person gets it your screwed anyways.  I'd use the tablets in hopes that nothing could possibly live in blood that's just been subjected to 1200% of my daily vitamin C intake.  This probably explains one of the many reasons why I talk so fast lol.

Back to the infomercial stuff, most that stuff is easy for your average intelligence human being to see through.  Fun fact, when they say "Only available on TV'.  You can usually wait 2-3 months, goto the "As seen on TV" store in Pittsburgh Mills and get the same deal.

And Cory the thing about guys with headsets in any environment is so true and they should be dodged at all cost.  When I was younger walking through a Florida flee market a guy with a headset literally pulled me aside and started cleaning my one shoe.  Trying to prove how good some cleaning product was, and figured if he did one I'd HAVE to buy the product to get the other to match it.  I glanced and my single clean shoe and cheerfully said "Gee thanks!" and walked off.  I can still remember his face lol.