Monday, February 2, 2009

The Infomercial


Anyone who has seen TV atleast once in the US has definitely run across Billy Mays. I mean c'mon there isn't a product on tv that this dude has hawked. He is 'the face' of the teems of hawkers all across the world who will exhort you on every opportunity to go and buy a product, any product.

I have often felt sorry for the salesguy who would move from house to house in India to sell the bathroom phenyl cleaner etc. etc. but this guy takes it to the limit. You feel like a kid again when he starts the screaming at you to go and buy the product. I seriously believe that people who do buy those products have some major issues. I mean the guy literally screams at you to pick up the phone and buy the item. Just by looking at the wiki page of his you come to realize the sheer extent of idiots who are keeping ads like these in business.

It is true there is no such thing as bad publicity but still there is such a thing as a pathetic ad atleast. The standard ad for any product goes as "HI, BILLY MAYS HERE. THIS (insert Product Name) IS GREAT !!!.(If you are wondering why the previous text was in caps its because caps = 'shout' to the netizen.) The premise pretty much stays the same for all the other products too.

And as long as there are crappy infomercials like these there will always be the motivation to press the MUTE button or just to switch channels randomly. Anything to get past an infomercial by Billy Mays.