But Wait, There's More!
Introduction
"But Wait, There's More!" is and has been the anthem for the
infomercial for more than fifty years. Although you have hear the
term and seen many of the commercials, the question still might
be, "What
is an infomercial?"
Infomercials are television commercials that, in today's market,
run the length of a typical television program (roughly 28 minutes,
30 seconds). Infomercials, which are sometimes known as paid programming
(or teleshopping in Europe), are usually shown off-peak hours,
such as late at night, early in the morning and sundays before
the nightly prime time programs.
The sales pitch has changed very little. A sales person, with much fanfare,
demonstrates a product. Often times, this item may be unique.
During the discussion, a "street price" is quoted, but that price
is drastically reduced if the viewer purchases this product within
a very short time. Then comes the anthem, "But Wait, There's More!"
and the sales person either double the order or adds numerous
small extras at no additional cost.
The first long (28 minute 30 second) infomercial is sometimes attributed
to business partners Edward Valenti and Barry Beecher, who developed
the format to sell the Ginsu Knife in 1984, but the roots of
the infomercial go back much farther.
In the old west, wondering sales men, often referred to as "
Snake Oil Salesman," traveled form town-to-town. In each community,
they would stop, present a show with information from their wagon
and sale a magic elixir that was suppose to cure almost any problem.
As the western population centers grew, these hucksters moved to
county fairs, carnivals and circuses.
In the late 1930s and early '40s, two brothers Samuel and Ray Popeil
were these type of hucksters. They would stand at a table at
the county fairs or on the boardwalks presenting a product. They
were able to persuade people to reach in their pocket and buy
something they had no intention of buying.The Popeils began wondered
if this classic pitch technique would work on the newly emerging
media — television?
In 1956, the Popeil brothers took $500 and placed Ron, Samuel's
21 year old son, before the camera to hawk the Chop-O-Matic.
The commercial worked and worked well. They couldn't produce
enough to keep up with demand. This is the very first television
infomercial (play
the video below from iFilm).
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1956 thru 1976
By the early 1960s, RONCO, the company the the Popeils had started, and
Ron Popeil's TV commercials were becoming a house hold fixture, but
the debut of the
Veg-O-Matic* really put them on the map and created an almost iconic
view of Ron.
*Side Bar: NPR (National
Public Radio) has three clips of Popeil TV commercials and the Dan
Aykroyd parody. You can visit the Web site and download the clips
or you may by pass the visit and download directly below. There is
also a number of the Popeil commercials the can be viewed on
iFilm.
The fame and the iconism of Ron Popeil and the RONCO commercial grew with
the sale of the fictitious
"Bass-O-Matic,"* a fish-blending machine pitched with
gusto by Dan Aykroyd on NBC's Saturday Night Live in 1976.
The Project
Using parody and/or satire, you are to create a 3 to 5 minute RONCO-style
commercial. The product that you pitch can be real or fictitious.
Follow the sales format discussed in the introduction. View the clips
form NPR and iFilm for ideal. Use Dan Aykroyd's Bass-O-Matic and
the student project Bombard as examples.
Side Bar: Here is another
lesson plan on satire using the
"Simpsons" TV show. Although it is not "Project Based"
enough for my usage, the mazterials and concepts are a great resource well worth using.
Video clips of Popeil TV commercials from NPR either visit the Web site or download them here.
Veg-O-Matic
Sit-on Trash Compactor
Bass-0-Matic (Saturday Night Live parody - © 1976 NBC)
Other Resources
iFilm has many more Popeil commercial
The Veg-O-Matic is featured in a Smithsonian Institution exhibit.
Read a biography of Ron Popeil.
These materials are Copyright © 2005 - 2007 by
Ron Bruner of the Multimedia Resource Center, unless otherwise stated.
This is for educational purposes only, any other use is subject to
terms & conditions.
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