Let’s celebrate the infomercial, one of the quirkiest forms of advertising.

It’s 2am on a Friday night in 1999, and guess what I’m watching? Well, we didn’t have cable, YouTube wasn’t a thing, and the VCR was in another room. So I tuned in to infomercials.

This year marks a big infomercial anniversary that probably no one is celebrating: 75 years ago in 1949, a 30-minute TV spot demonstrating the flashy features of the Vitamix kitchen blender aired on a local Ohio station. It’s widely believed that this program was the first infomercial.

Decades later, I sat enthralled by knives slicing through midair pineapples, food drifting across miracle nonstick pans, and exercise equipment targeted to people five times my age. Of course, it was all stuff bound for some garage sale bargain bin after two uses of failed promises and the sobering realization of being suckered. But I still loved watching infomercials.

More than once I admit to buying (er, asking for my mom’s credit card) some of the rubbish. Looking back, I actually think infomercials are an underappreciated form of marketing and advertising. Yes, infomercials are cheesy. Yes, the products are zany. And yes, it’s all stuff no one really needs. Yet plenty of people still picked up the phones at 3am. Here’s why.

You can’t beat the hosts’ enthusiasm. 

Boring commercials and monotone actors suck. Infomercial hosts are anything but. They spew taglines and exude sheer energy while pushing some wild products like their mid-level acting careers depend on it.

Infomercials often shared the same time slot as late-night talk shows, but I for one found the guy pitching carpet cleaner way more entertaining than the guy rattling off stale jokes. The carpet-cleaning guy wanted you to call him now; the talk show host essentially put you to sleep.

The dramatizations are ridiculous. 

Those iconic black-and-white infomercial fail scenes sure have a way of bringing out the worst in people. First someone’s struggling to open a jar of pickles. Next thing you know, their house is on fire.

Without their product in your hands, infomercials make you feel like you’re hopelessly incapable of doing just about anything. And that’s some pretty good marketing or is at least convincing enough to get people calling some sketchy 1-800 number in the middle of the night. There’s entertainment value in every infomercial, and those black-and-white dramatizations might just be the best part.

If infomercials can’t sell you, what can? 

In all their cheesiness and over-the-top dramatizations, infomercials actually stick to advertising principles pretty well.

They present a problem, showcase the solution/product, and make a, in this case dubious, promise. Then they do this again. And again. And again. And then throw in a second product that can be yours if you call within 15 minutes. How else to convince people that they had to have some appliance/beauty product/magic closet space–saving contraption, much less two? Suckers like me fell right for it.

Infomercials are a cultural touchstone.

Infomercials were in their glory days in the ’80s and ’90s. Today, they’re less common, although long-form advertisements on YouTube and other platforms have their own advertising niche.

Whereas the 30-second TV commercial thrives on innovation, narrative, and attention-grabbing ideas, the infomercial follows the same formula every time. And by sticking to the script, we always know what we’re in for: goofy products, overly dramatic acting, and maybe just enough reason to actually call. Infomercials, whether parodied, watched for entertainment, or taken seriously, have become something of a cultural touchstone as a result.

Call us now!

Even if you’re not planning your own infomercial, you might be looking for new ways to advertise your great products and services. If you contact us, we can help.

But wait, there’s more! If you call us within the next 15 minutes, we’ll– Just kidding.

If you do call us, though, we’ll work hard to learn about your business, understand your goals, and develop an advertising strategy that works for you – and that’s one promise you don’t have to doubt.