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Whether or not you’ve ever actually watched a full one, you’re certainly familiar with the show-length advertisements known as infomercials. But have you ever wondered how these comically bad ads came about? After all, unlike other forms of advertisement, infomercials were created specifically for television. Here’s the story of the paid programs we all love to hate.
If you’re familiar with old-timey radio programs, then you probably already know that many pre-television radio programs didn’t have ads so much as sponsors whose name and product would be plugged in between just about every song. Even those unfamiliar with these early radio programs may recognize the idea from the movie O’ Brother Where Art Thou, where there are frequent mentions of Pappy O’Daniel’s Flour Hour.
Interestingly, that character was actually based on a real life Texas governor with the same name who also had a flour company, Hillbilly Flour, that sponsored a radio program. As if the frequent mention of the sponsor’s name wasn’t enough, the real Pappy O’Daniel ensured that even his performers reminded people of the product, so he even helped form a band known as the Light Crust Doughboys (the Hillbilly Band in the video was created after the Doughboys broke up). Sure it was still not quite an infomercial, but I’m sure you can see that sponsored programming is certainly nothing new.
As television began to catch on, the same concept was used again, only instead of using music or radio plays, the sponsors could create entire TV shows devoted mainly to pitching their products while consumers watched the programming intently. One of the most famous early examples was NBC’s The Magic Clown, which was created and sponsored by Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy and featured regular interruptions promoting said candy (aside from the name in the intro, there’s basically a full commercial at 4:09).
The first real infomercial appeared around 1950 and was for a blender, although there is a heated debate as to whether it was for a VitaMix or a Waring blender.
more …
Totally rad! You can be a Nintendoid, too, with all this cool gear from Homer’s of Omaha! That is, if you were a young gamer in the early ’90s who bugged his parents until they bought such stuff. Clothing available in men’s and children’s sizes. Link
His name is Taxi Dave, he drives the Party Cab between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., and he’s a one man mobile paaar-tay in Sacramento, CA!
Watch him strut and sway his way across the parking lot, performing the Taxi Dave Dance in order to attract new customers. Party Cab is in the house tonight indeed!
–via Videogum
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This certainly put a new spin on Eric Carmen's popular song Hungry Eyes. That's a real advertisement for Burger King Netherlands, which prodded customers to "get a tasty new look." Link - via BellaSugar
Chris Pratt, of Parks and Recreation fame, stars in this silly little spot for Star Wars Kinect on Xbox. One question remains-Is Darth Vader evil enough to cut down a Jedi wearing nothing but briefs and an undershirt?
–via Rampaged Reality
I want to go to London if for no other reason than to get one of these cards stamped over and over again at Tapped & Packed. Especially since no one is steering the bike.
-via reddit | Official Website
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Lots of things go well with an ice cold beer in hand: pizza, ball games, bowling, and, of course, video games. Gaming while getting your buzz on can make the whole experience more enjoyable, and may help ease the pain of utter defeat on the virtual battlefield.
8-Bit Pale Ale knows your pain, and they’re hoping to appeal to drunken gamers everywhere with the pixel art designs on their can, but does their Pale Ale taste as good as the competition, or is it just a bad beer wrapped in an appealing label?
Gundlach Bundschu Winery would like to share their take on the modern history of Merlot with you, and they’ve chosen to do so via comedy video. Bold move Gundlach, but the end result is a rather cheesy video that’s laughably bad at times.
Still, it’s an entertaining way to advertise your role in the expanding Merlot market, and I guess if you’re a few bottles deep it might be the most hilarious video you’ve watched all day.
–via Tastefully Offensive
Comments Off The mastermind behind this hilarious infomercial for the Cacto-Matic is none other than Thu Tran, creator and star of the IFC show Food Party and one heck of a funny gal.
Here she is peddling a fake product by using her powers of comedy and hallucinogenic sorcery, both of which have definitely put me in a buying mood!
Comments Off This web spot by Lithuanian mineral water company Vytautas keeps coming at you like a comedy tsunami, with super cheesy animation to match.
The narrator has definitely taken a few pointers from the recent Old Spice ad campaign, but emulation doesn’t stop the funny from raining down like water that fish haven’t pooped in yet.
(NSFW due to coarse language)
–via Geek Tyrant
The Tower Bridge, in Jaffa Cakes
I’ve never had Jaffa Cakes before (well, are they cakes or biscuits?)
but they look delicious. No wonder then that Dominic Wilcox had to eat
hundreds of these cakes to create the “perfect” creations:
McVitie’s, the biscuit people, challenged me to create some
British themed creations using their Jaffa Cakes. I took my inspiration
from friends who described their strange and unique methods of eating
them. I started to nibble and pick away, going through 30 boxes of Jaffa
Cakes to try to get shapes that fitted with my British themed ideas.
One problem I had was when I got distracted by the radio and then looked
back to see I had eaten the Loch Ness monster. See the video and pictures
of what I came up with below.
Here are a few more: more …
Hipster Branding is one artist’s re-envisioning of some of the world’s most famous logos. While a few of the designs aren’t bad, some of them are just plain obnoxious.
Link Via Laughing Squid
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Microsoft knows that you hate its browser Internet Explorer, but it's planning for it to make a comeback. While that remains to be seen, at least they've got a pretty nifty ad to tout the new Internet Explorer 9. Even the name is apt: The Browser You Loved to Hate
Here are a few more:
View more at Microsoft's website: The Browser You Loved To Hate - via Visual News
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What were they thinking? They obviously did not recall the colossal Mooninite caper of 2007. Then again, that was five years ago. Convar Deutschland, a German computer company, sent out advertising “gifts” for their data-recovery service to prospective clients in the form of what appeared to be time bombs.
Convar Deutschland thought they had cooked up an exciting way to attract new clients, when they began gluing hard drives to alarm clocks and sending them to companies with a note reading, “Your time is running out.”
They sent out a total of 40 “time bombs” to businesses, shops, a handful of embassies and even the offices of a newspaper group.
But instead of drumming up custom, the stunt caused mayhem as terrified recipients called the police and prompted building evacuations, Berlin paper Tagesspiegel reported on Friday.
The company may have to pay the police for expenses incurred. Link -via Arbroath
What’s the easiest way to score a free pizza in Hyannis, Massachusetts? Why, by getting a vasectomy, of course!
The old “free pizza can sell anything” routine has finally hit rock bottom, thanks to the Urology Associates of Cape Cod, who are offering up a snip and a slice which are ready whenever you’ve given up all hope of ever having kids or dieting.
To add further insult to injury, they suggest that the topping of choice should be meatballs. Low blow doc, low blow.
–via The Daily What
I recently posted an article about the baked potato advertising campaign that uses scented bus stop posters to sell their spuds to hungry riders (link).
Well, fellow UK company Mr Kipling didn’t want to merely use scented posters to advertise their tasty cakes, so they’re also giving away free samples.
They’ve installed 19 free cake dispensing posters at bus stops across London to give the people their first taste for free, and they exude a cake smell which will taunt you if the dispensing poster is tapped out.
Mmmmmm…..free bus stop cakes! Free bus stop cakes!
Link
Comments Off Problem: spilled beer in bars. Solution: spill-proof beer. Brilliant! Hahn Brewery has advanced the human race with its robotics research. And just think about the potential spin-offs, such as spill-proof liquor!
-via That’s Nerdalicious!
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From bus shelters that keep passengers warm to designs that actually interact with those waiting, WebUrbanist has collected some of the coolest bus stop ads ever created.
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You’ll be stylin’ and profilin’ in this Battlestar Galactica Warrior’s Battle Jacket, whether you’re getting your boogie on at the disco or piloting a Starhound Viper through a meteor storm.
If this retro magazine ad has inspired you to change up your style with a sci-fi style twist, then head to Ebay, where you can get your own for around $250. According to the ad copy, the jacket is the “perfect family jacket for anywhere wear. ” ‘Nuff said.
The Dollar Shave Club wants to sell you razors so you can get busy shaving your hairiest body parts, and with this ad cutting through the interwebs I’m sure they’ll be chin deep in loot in no time.
Selling shaving razors club style for a few bucks a month doesn’t sound like the best idea for a company, but this hilarious commercial has convinced me otherwise, mostly because they have a guy in a bear suit working in their warehouse. A guy in a bear suit wouldn’t be caught dead working for a crappy company, at least not while wearing the suit.
–via Geekosystem
The best helpers are ones that you don’t have to pay. The Canadian ad agency Rethink makes good use of bald commuters on rapid transit trains by exposing their heads for all to see.
Link -via Super Punch | Photo: David Niddrie
How would the fairy tale Three Little Pigs play out if it were covered by modern media? The Guardian's fanciful advertisement for open journalism lets you "follow the story from the paper's front page headline, through a social media discussion, and finally to an unexpected conclusion." I didn't see that one coming.
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via notcot
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Hair trimmer? Dude, you need a machete for that forest. Publicis, an advertising agency in Germany, made this ad to promote a small body hair trimmer. It and a similar ad that you can find at the link make use of wild vines.
Link -via Blame It on the Voices | Photo: Mertphoto
The Los Angeles Zoo has a new exhibit called LAIR (Living Amphibians, Invertebrates and Reptiles). Slash and Betty White appear in a series of ads promoting it. What a perfect combination! There are five ads in all; see them at Adweek. Link -via The Daily What
We see some brand logos so often that we don’t even pay attention to them anymore. So would you recognized a small change in them? In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you’ll be presented with ten logos. Some have been flipped horizontally. Can you tell which ones? I scored 80%, which is surprising. Link
This clever ad by the Grey Group in Tokyo lets you split wood before you even enter the dojo for the first time. Also: chopping of your own leg at the same time. But no pain, no gain.
Link -via That’s Nerdalicious!
Comments Off The Muppet that became Cookie Monster was created in 1966, when he was introduced as the Wheel Stealer in this un-aired demo ad. Not long afterward, he lost all his teeth -except for his sweet tooth! If the company had aired this spot, the products may have survived longer. -via Everlasting Blort
Comments Off Advertising campaigns usually rely on suckers to buy their products, but this campaign for Chupa Chups candy is trying to get you to buy suckers and prove you’re not just some sucker at the same time.
Created by BBH Singapore, the spot is called “R4V3N: Never Not Winning” and it features a rather unique use for their suckers-a lollipop controlled joystick that will help you become an online gaming champion.
It’s a clever way to advertise their product and their new online promo game at the same time, and R4V3N’s ridiculous style is what’s truly never not winning about this spot.
–via DesignTAXI
Comments Off Who would make the ideal hosts for a promotional video about Windows 95? Why, Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston, stars of the wildly popular TV show Friends, of course!
The casting choice seems a bit odd, but it makes sense in terms of the show’s popularity at the time. And, although it seems like a celebrity marketing scheme gone wrong, Windows 95 went large for Microsoft so maybe they were on to something with the Friends connection.
Extra Credit: See if you can sit through the entire ten minute video without wanting to gouge out your eyes and/or jam ballpoint pens into your ears!
–via Buzzfeed
The Nordic insurance company Trig aired this ad with the tagline “When you have peace of mind, you can give peace of mind to others”. -via Buzzfeed
In case you are wondering about the dog used in this ad, his name is Matisse, and there’s a video about him just ahead. In English.
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