Unimportant Information

[cabinetman]

I have a buddy that emails me stuff, you know the kind (both buddy and stuff). I got some info on Billy Mays that I had to laugh at.

Included was a snip from Wikipedia:
The website Consumerama similarly panned Mays' style, comparing his appearance to "a bouncer in a cut-and-shoot' bar" and describing his delivery as "rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat....". Consumerama awarded him its "Naked Mole-Rats of Marketing Award" for "shameless consumer abuse.".

An incomplete list of the products he yells about:

* OxiClean, Orange Clean, Orange Glo
* Hercules Hook wall hangers
* Simoniz Fix It Scratch Remover
* Ding King automotive dent remover
* Gopher reaching tool
* Zorbeez absorbent towels
* Lint-B-Gone lint brush
* Samurai Shark knife sharpener
* Liquid Diamond car waxing product
* AwesomeAuger Ground Auger, Weed Auger, and Power Extender gardening tools
* Gulp Wrench
* Turbo Tiger vacuum cleaner
* FreeFone wireless phone holder
* Swamp Busters
* Handy Switch remote light switches
* Mighty Putty
* FoneFree wireless cellphone headset
* Easy Off Bam!
* Crocodile Cutter
* E-Z Fly Yard Detector
* Sealtite Tire Sealant
* Currie Motors Chrysler Credit Hotline
* Genco Power Solutions
* Vidalia Slice Wizard
* Steam Buddy wrinkle remover/creaser
* Kaboom! products
* Cutco Kitchenware
* Creamy Joe Inc.
.

[rcp612]

Is Billy a relative of Ron Popiel, or maybe his #1 student?
Maybe we'll see the return of the "pocket fisherman".

[Uncle Cracker]

Difference with Ron Popeil is that he invented most of the stuff he pimps. Still annoying, though.

[jhart]

I generally use the mute button if Billy Mays comes up on a commercial on a program I haven't Tivo'd. Love Tivo!!

[Bruce Cohen]

Yeah,

But think about it. Although you might hate him and find him obnoxious, you remember him and the products he's pushing.

Billy Mays has become a "brand", and in most cases, more memorable than the junk he pushes. What the ad agency has done is to make him a remembered spokesman for a product he's pitching and once your brain images him, it connects you to whatever it is he's selling.

I believe the street word is "GOTCHA".

This is how consumer advertising, especially TV ads work. Persistence of memory is the ultimate goal of any ad. Regardless of how much you love or hate an ad, if it makes you remember the product, especially when you're in a store, that ad has accomplished its "job".

In the early '70's, TV ads were fun to watch, some actually were 60 second vignettes of film making, in fact some of the people directing those "spots" ended up in Hollywood making "real" movies.

That rapidly changed. The problem was that the ads were so engrossing, nobody remembered the products being sold. And in the ad business, that means the ad FAILED.

Which brings us back full circle to Mr. Whipple and "Please don't squeeze the Charmin", which by the way, is really an inferior product. But you or your wife remembered that ad (because it was so annoying), that when you went to purchase toilet paper, Charmin came to mind.

I've worked on "Madison Avenue" way too long to take offence at annoying commercials, I just get up and go to the bathroom or the kitchen, if the wife's not around.

Bruce

[Salty]

I want to see him do a commercial for this stuff!

[L. D. Jeffries]

Well for all that we "hate" those "LOUD" commercials, just think how much he may be worth! Bet the residuals pay him handsomely; and that would be a lot of ww'ing tools. The one sound you can hear in our house when he comes on is: "Oh shut up Billy"

[jackellis]

Well for all that we "hate" those "LOUD" commercials, just think how much he may be worth! Bet the residuals pay him handsomely; and that would be a lot of ww'ing tools. The one sound you can hear in our house when he comes on is: "Oh shut up Billy"

I also think he's obnoxious when he's pitching something, but a) there are pitchmen I dislike more, and b) Billy Mays is a VERY wealthy man on Orange Oil alone. One of the biz magazines ran an article about him a while back.

[LinuxRandal]

One thing I am seeing with commercials, fewer people watching them. With the writers strike and reruns, I see more people turning off the tube and tuning into life.


Maybe we can get more to turn off, stop buying so much junk, cutting consumber debt, and start improving things.....

[jhart]

When I see commercials that are offensive to me (various ways) I make a mental note to never, ever buy that product and I don't.

[BobSch]

Maybe we can get more to turn off, stop buying so much junk, cutting consumber debt, and start improving things.....

What? Are you unAmerican or something? Stop spending? You'll deepen the recession (evrybody panic!) What do you think the $1,200 is all about?


Sorry, my sarcastic alter-ego got loose again.

[Tom Slick]

Billy Mays and Ron Popeil's marketing has worked exactly as it is supposed to, everybody here knows their names, and that is the name of the game.