What's your favorite "As Seen On TV" product?
Asked by
ibstubro (
18804
)
April 20th, 2016
Either one you bought and loved, or one so implausible that the commercial made you laugh.
I just heard of the Air Curler and it made me laugh.
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
34 Answers
That thing is ridiculous. Even the demonstrators’ curls look like crap.
They show long, luxurious curls on the models, and the demonstrators barely curl the last few inches of their hair, @Seek. Hilarious.
I sometimes curl my son’s hair with the vacuum cleaner hose, but that’s just goofing around. I’d never do it seriously.
The thing reminds me of the Suck Cut
You are describing most of the “unauthorized” commercials I see on TV. The way they show them is really amateur. They are like the TV version of the spammers you see on Fluther. No special effect, no effort to show the effect of the products in action, nothing at all. Just a bunch of scrolling words on the screen, some random people using the products and some random questionable images of the effect if the products.
They are self-aware that they are amateurs, so they make up for it by using one narrator who talks non-stop about how good the product is. Throughout the commercial all you can hear is a long narration of a man praising the product to the most ridiculous level possible (a whitening cream that whitens your skin in just 24 hours, really?) And he keeps on repeating the same thing again and again in some cases, like he doesn’t have anything more to say about it. Oh, and the time can be up to 3 minutes for one commercial, and never forget some random unknown “celebrities” who are “very pleased” with their products too, though they never appear in person.
This is a typical example of what I’m talking about. You don’t need to understand what he says, just observe the way he talks and how they present the commercial in general (but in case you want to kniw what’s going on, he is promoting a massage machine that can cure every illness you can think of)
Time Mart? I wanna buy some time!
Ooh, a TENS unit. Those can be incredibly useful for lots of things.
OH MY GOD WOMAN NOT THE FACE!
Oooh, I kinda want the foot pads.
Yeah. That’s an infomercial all right. At least he offers an instructional video.
Of course, we all know what those things are really going to be used for. E-stim.
Perfect in the fact that it succeeds in not containing any punk, at all.
^ Snob. Who hasn’t had the crap kicked out of them in the pit at a Boy George all-ages punk show? EDIT: For the record, I’m being sarcastic. That cd is brilliant. It’s the least punk cd of all time.Here’s a live video (mislabeled) of Huey Lewis and News.
Miracle Thaw. It works better than shown on TV.
I bought a special knee wrap on the “As seen on TV” aisle at Walmart. It’s a wrap, with some sort of ball in it. You wrap it around your knee just so, and the ball presses on a certain nerve and it immediately wipes out lower back pain.
When my daughter told me about it, I didn’t believe her. I’m not into mystic “natural” healing. She talked me into trying it once. It was instant relief.
I immediately went out and bought one.
I wore it pretty consistently for about 3 days, then I kind of lost track of it. That was 6 months ago and I haven’t had back pain since.
Crazy. I’ll get more next time I come across one.
Gopher A pickup and reach tool!
Those commercials really crack me up! I think my favorite is the one about some sort of ear cleaning system to replace Q-tip cotton swabs. This one guy is digging and digging in his ear with a Q-tip and suddenly stabs it through his brain or something! It’s so funny! It’s like, how stupid are you?
The NutriBullet. We use it a lot and it works great. Wish I had bought one sooner. In case anyone doesn’t know what it is, it’s a juicer that’s very small with lots of power and all parts are dishwasher safe. You actually end up with only two parts .
The SpinMop is fabulous! Loved it so much I got my daughter one. Hands never touch water. It’s fun to use and does a great job on floors. If you want to know what model to buy just message me.
I think the Suck Cut was a parody of the Flowbee, once a very popular product. I had a guy start to tell me how great the Flowbee is one time. I laughed. He was serious!
Wow, I think that’s a translation of one of our infomercials, @Mimishu1995. The writing is in English. Exactly the stuff we’re talking about! They make shocking yourself look so relaxing.
At least they were happy to be punked @DoNotKnowMuch
Honestly, @GSLeader? I’ve seen the 2nd hand for cheap and figured it was just a slab of plastic.
I have one of those for the wrist that didn’t seem to do anything, @Dutchess_III. Whatever works for you, I’m all for. How long did you have back pain before the knee-ball?
Pick-up tool, good or bad, @si3tech. I used to have one on my riding mower. It was handy, but hard to keep track of.
I don’t have the kitchen space for small appliances, @Aster, or I probably would have tried a NutriBullet. A friend had me hunting one for her office, and I saw a bargain or 2 on them. When I sponge-mopped I had one that squeezed itself, and that was handy.
@Mimishu1995 You don’t need to understand what he says
“Huckster” is the universal language!
Surprised I am the first to mention “Headon! Apply Directly to the Forehead”
As for something I might buy, I have been tempted by the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter .
Perfect in the fact that it succeeds in not containing any punk, at all.
Maybe the last track is “Ha ha! You’ve been punked!”
@ibstubro to tell the truth I only knew what infomercial is after @Seek‘s response. Well that may be an infomercial, but I don’t think the original version is that exaggerated and unprofessional. It still seems like a bunch of unrelated infomercials gets thrown into a blender along with some over-the-top commentary.
Besides Donald Trump, you mean? He’s the worst TV product ever.
Hey…I remember when the weed eater was introduced as a “As seen on TV” thing. It seems like it was in the early 70’s. Once in a great heavenly while they do work, as seen on TV.
The scary thing is, @SecondHandStoke, I have seen versions of the Slap Chop that are decades old. They have been selling the choppers to generation after generation.
Yeah, I got that he slapped her in the chops.
I can’t source that contention, @Dutchess_III.
I’ve never seen Vince Offer before. Did Leonardo DiCaprio study him for Wolf of Wall Street? After seeing that video I want a Slap Chop.
I have seen versions of the Slap Chop that are decades old
Veg-o-Matic!! It slices. It dices. It even juliennes!!
I mean the identical product, decades old.
We had one at the auction recently that was still in the original box and from the 60’s – 70’s. The knob, the round housing, the squiggle blade. When I found it I made the comment, “Everything old is new again.”
Wait!
Something’s fishy here.
The Veggetti
Not only does it work as advertised (shreds vegetables) but the name sounds vaguely naughty.
What have you done with the shreds, @cookieman? Reminds me vaguely of spaghetti squash, which I don’t like.
My wife has used then some baked goods (breads, cookies). Also some homemade spring rolls.
I love spring rolls.
I grate my veggies for cakes.
The classics: The Snuggie and the Chop-O-Matic
I don’t own either of them. :)
The Gotham Steel Pan and the Magic Mesh.
Ah. I seem to think you’ve had good success with the magic mesh, @nightwolf5?
@ibstubro “I can’t source that contention, @Dutchess_III.” [Regarding the weed eater first being advertised “As seen on TV.”]
I googled, History of the weed eater,, and there it is. All sourced out for you.
“The string trimmer was invented in the early 1970s by George Ballas of Houston, Texas…”
Then I googled, Early advertising for the weed eater,, and by jove, there was some more information: ”But how could George do this without big money? The answer: a little bit at a time. At first he bought cheap local TV ads….As Weed Eaters kept selling, he used the money to buy more advertising…”
As I said, the first time I saw a weed eater was on a TV ad, in the middle of the same bunch of ads for throw away “new inventions,” with the same poor production quality, just like they have today. I remember a glass cutter being among those new inventions at the same time because we got one. Didn’t get a weed eater until the 80’s, though.
One “As seen on TV” product that actually does work is the wrap that goes around your knee for sciatic nerve pain.. My daughter told me about it. I was very skeptical, but I tried hers. It was like a freaking miracle. I went out and bought 3 of them. They were at Walmart in the “As seen on TV” aisle.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
