Infomercials Prey on Boredom and Offer Solutions to Non-Problems

This week I wanted to talk about infomercials in honor of one of my heroes who recently passed away, Billy Mays (because just like his products, he was only available for a limited time).

Infomercials usually pop up when watching any main TV stations like Fox, NBC or CBS around 2 a.m. And they catch you off guard, too; you don’t question it until it seems extra long and you start to think to yourself, “Wait, has this commercial been on for 12 minutes now?”

All these infomercials usually start the same way, a voice will come on and say something like, “Does this happen to you daily?” Then it’ll cut to a clip in black and white of a woman bending over to pick something up and immediately jerks back to grab her back in pain while shaking her head and staring at the camera as if to say, “If only there were a better way!”

The voice comes back—“Well those days are over because the Mighty Claw is here!”—and the pitch begins. A man will walk into the shot (usually in a living room or kitchen) and start telling you random facts about some “horrible” situation people have to go through every day.
“Did you know the average person in America bends over to pick things up to seven times a day? And did you know every time you bend over you cause stress in your back, which could lead to arthritis and scoliosis? Well now those problems can finally be solved with the Mighty Claw!” (Thank God! I smell a Nobel Peace Prize.)

A rundown of what the product is made of and examples of what it can do then follow.

“The Mighty Claw is made up of a retracting three piece set of Japanese titanium rods, which extend on command, equipped with a rubber handle with a graphite finish which homes the easy-access hand trigger giving you control of the stainless steel claws on the end.”

He then walks over to an area with random items on the floor. “For example, look at that newspaper on the floor! If I didn’t have the Mighty Claw, who knows how long or how many tries it would take me to bend over and pick it up? But now with the lightweight six pounds Mighty Claw, bending over becomes a thing of the past!” (Finally, I was so tired of having to use my body to do things!)

Then finally after this whole presentation, (keep in mind showing off the product and informing you on it does take around 30 minutes) we come to the price of this amazing product. They start by comparing their price to similar products, which makes you think, “Why would more than one of these exist anyway?” The man will say something like, “Competitors may charge you up to $600 for a similar product! But with this special TV offer, you can get the mighty claw for 69 easy payments of $3.99! However, if you order within the next full moon, we’ll throw in a second mighty claw absolutely free!”

Then to wrap everything up and to give you one last reason in case you still have any doubts, they give you an estimation of how much money you’ll save by buying this product. “When you buy the Mighty Claw you’ll potentially save at least $10,000 on back surgery and prescription pain killers for the rest of your life! Can you really afford to miss out on this deal?”

First off, if you need a payment plan to buy something off an infomercial, you probably have bigger problems than whatever it is the product can “fix.” Also, what part of these numerous payments is “easy?” If anything, wouldn’t spreading the payments out over time instead of just paying all at once be much more inconvenient? I don’t want to still be paying for my Slap Chop two years after it breaks.

Second, I don’t like when they need to threaten me into buying the product with random statistics and “potential savings.” The arguments are usually so random and unrelated to the product in any way, it really has nothing to do with anything. “Did you know around 151,000 people die every day? (Actual fact) Well, if you buy Axe Body Spray, you might not die today!” And third, everything being sold through infomercials is completely ridiculous and unnecessary!

Can anybody really say the Snuggie was a good idea? I’m pretty sure this was invented when someone woke up extremely hung over one day, put a robe on backwards, walked downstairs and when he was asked about what he was wearing, he was too stubborn to admit he’d made a mistake, and that’s how the Snuggie came to be. I guarantee if your parents showed up to your high school football game wearing Snuggies like in the commercials, you would be too ashamed to admit you were their child. (But I’m guessing if you own a Snuggie you’re not planning on going out in public any time soon.)

As entertaining as these infomercials are, it’s sad that people can actually relate to the problems shown in these commercials. I think if I’m sitting with a friend watching an infomercial, and he says to me, “Dude, finally! I am always struggling to make waffles in the microwave!” we probably wouldn’t be friends for much longer.

So next time you’re watching TV, and it cuts to a black and white clip of a woman fumbling to fill her oven with dirty dishes while she gets handed divorce papers from a lawyer, get excited to finally learn how to overcome some annoying daily chores.

John Jacobs can be reached at jjacobs@ut.edu.