Consumer Reports Tests 15 Infomercial Products

[DainBramaged]

Ladies and gentlemen, do you scrub, scrape, and scour baked-on crud on cookware; cry over gallons of spilled milk; fall off your ladder when cleaning gutters; and torture yourself to get a firmer fanny? Wish there were a better way?
Then stay up late tonight, rub your magic TV remote, and -- abracadabra! -- Infomercial Genie will save the day.

Infomercials are the Rodney Dangerfields of advertising: They've gotten no respect for their quirky hucksters, ceaseless superlatives, and corny product names since at least the early 1960s. That's when Ron Popeil pioneered the Ronco Veg-o-Matic, once claimed to be "the only appliance in the world that slices whole, firm tomatoes in one stroke. French fries? Make hundreds in 1 minute!"
But infomercials are a mighty money machine. They can chop marketing costs to as little as one-tenth the size of a traditional advertising campaign. They can slice posted prices when they lard the total bill with shipping and handling fees and other extras. They can dice consumer pocketbooks into 100 billion $1 bills a year, then miraculously sweep away that unsightly paper using patented credit-card technology.
The secret lies in neuroscience. Infomercials are carefully scripted to pump up dopamine levels in your brain, says Martin Lindstrom, an advertising expert and author of "Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy," which details how ads affected 2,000 research subjects.
"Infomercials take viewers on a psychological roller-coaster ride," Lindstrom says. The fun starts with dramatizations of a problem you didn't know you had, followed by the incredible solution, then a series of ever more amazing product benefits, bonuses, and giveaways, all leading to the final thrilling plunge of an unbelievably low price. After the ride, Lindstrom says, "dopamine levels drop in 5 or 6 minutes. That's why infomercials ask you to buy in the next 3 minutes."
"The magic of TV and film editing and shooting can make anything look good," says Christian Holiday, CEO of Global Media Marketing, an infomercial producer in Santa Ana, Calif. According to Larry Nusbaum, managing director of Vertex Capital Management and CEO of Ronco, which Vertex bought in 2008, "About half of infomercial products deliver on their promise, 30 percent do what they say but are a bit expensive, and the rest are junk."


Products tested at link:


· ShamWow
· PedEgg
· Slap Chop
· Magic Jack
· Garry Ultra Light
· Snuggie
· Grease Bullet
· Tyre Grip & AutoSock
· Ab Circle Pro
· iRobot Looj
· Urban Rebounder
· Debbie Meyer Green Bags
· Hercules Hook
· Mighty Putty

http://www.walletpop.com/consumer-reports/article/consumer-reports-tests-15-infomercial/843113?ncid=webmaildl3

[bbinacan]

1. Very interesting.

Thanks for the link.

[BlueJazz]

2. Hurry up with your post...We only have 15 minutes to read it and---

...you know, we can't do this all day. :)

[NYC_SKP]

3. I use my PedEgg as a cheese grater, and my cheese grater on my feet.

Because I can.

:silly:

[bbinacan]

6. I have a PedEgg

and it does a great job.

[Warpy]

8. I thought the Ped Egg would make a great citrus zester

but I'm still using my microplane instead.

I do have an ultra cheap mini trampoline as a way to get a quick, low impact cardio workout. I don't need the plastic bar or the fancy dials with it, though, I use a clock.

Other than that, I've never been remotely interested in that stuff.

[NYC_SKP]

12. Getting exercise is so easy, yet...

...many of us do silly things, like me.

I bought an new elliptical three years ago, without ever really using one.

I did not like it, not as much as a treadmill, and I took it to the Salvation Army last week.

I realized I'd burned more calories moving it from room to room than I had actually using it!

So now I walk to the store, take stairs up in low rise buidings, stuff like that.

Trampoline sounds like fun!!!

[Warpy]

22. it's not that much fun after a while

but it doesn't hurt, either, which is why I chose it over more expensive options.

I have severe arthritis, a broken bone in my back, and all sorts of other jive going on. There's not much I can use. I can use this.

[Roon]

29. I was at the clinic a few years ago

and there was a sign by the elevators that said something like..take the stairs, be healthy, one step at a time, etc.

So I thought, hey!! That's a great idea! So I sucked it up and walked up five stories to get to the clinic. I get to the top floor and go to open the door and it was LOCKED!!!! I had to walk back down to the fourth floor and take the elevator back up. Very Ironic.

[blue neen]

4. I always thought that the "Snuggie" would be cumbersome to wear.

The shedding would also be very annoying.

Thanks for the info! :)

[tammywammy]

7. My mom came up with the snuggie idea many years ago

She would just wear her terry cloth robe backwards when she was reading or something. lol

[virgogal]

15. I love it! Aren't Mom's clever?

[tammywammy]

16. She said she should have sold the idea

She's like "and you guys would laugh at me, I could have been an millionaire!"

lol

[blue neen]

18. That's right!

...and she didn't have to pay $29.95 (plus shipping and handling, of course) for it! :)

[Berry Cool]

5. Well, I'm half German and

you know the Germans make good stuff.

[Nikki Stone1]

9. Excellent post. Great to know about the dopamine levels.

That can help to counteract the effect.

[Nikki Stone1]

10. Funny stuff in the reviews:

* Two little wows: A small ShamWow held more motor oil than a sponge, and a bigger one is good for drying a wet dog. :rofl:

* Each time we laundered two Snuggies, we removed a sandwich bag's worth of lint from the dryer screen.

* Mighty Putty: It's moderately mighty but pretty pricey ($19.99 for six sticks).

[ixion]

11. I really don't see how people can watch those things

they annoy the living crap out of me.

[NYC_SKP]

13. Got a snuggie for Christmas. Don't care too much for the snuggie.

It is like an over-length hospital gown made of thicker warm material.

Open in the back, no belt.

No thanks.

[Recovered Repug]

14. It looks like they didn't love Vince's nuts.

[virgogal]

17. One of my old faves was The Clapper. :- )

[conscious evolution]

20. Mine was the bass-o-matic

http://www.movieweb.com/tv/TEyCQzCEr6m2BG/HU80c9dhAsFbaf

[virgogal]

23. I was a big SNL fan in those days and when I saw the Bass-o-matic

episode I actually gagged,to the very great amusement of my husband.

You had to remind me----LOL.

[equinedemocrat]

19. Snuggie

I do like my snuggle, if only for the jokes I get about it, LOL... but my solution has been to wrap the middle and clamp it with one of those chip bag clips. It's VERY stylish :)

[DainBramaged]

21. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[ThatsMyBarack]

24. I wish they'd make a *smaller* PedEgg....

That I can use to scrape the dead skin off of my fingertips. They (my dry fingers) keep snagging on my skin, my yarn, my clothes, etc.

[applegrove]

25. My dad is a sucker for those commercials. Last year I got a Snuggie. This Christmas? A Slap Chop.

[HughMoran]

26. That was fun

I now know what products to avoid (not that I would have bought any of these anyway.)

[Kablooie]

27. Ah. I miss my 'wonderful' Flowbee haircuts.

[Taitertots]

28. Shamwow is a fraud

He never cleans anything in the commercial. He puts the towel on the stain, there is a cut scene to his face, it cuts back to a completely different already cleaned carpet.

The people in the commercial just got the shamwow from the booth. How could they be satisfied with it already?

[Cowpunk]

30. My favorite is the repackaged plumber's putty

It's new! It's miraculous! It's been around for decades.