I hate Infomercials!

I’m sure alot of you agree with me when I say “I hate infomercials!”.

The products themselves are usually poor quality but are made out to look like they are some kind of super item, but rarely live up to the claims.  Recently I saw one for a fishing rod that “shoots” the bait out with a sling shot like contraption.  You’ve seen these things late at night I’m sure.  They talk about how great the product is while exaggerating the problems you have with the current products for the task.  I saw one about a can opener that opens the can from the side instead of the top.  They compared it with a normal can opener and exaggerated the fact that sometimes you have a problem getting the top off.  He shoved his finger down into the can, causing the contents to overflow all over the counter and claiming that the opener left sharp edges that could cut you (Duh!).  The fishing rod commercial exaggerated the issues you have with normal fishing rods, showing a man in the middle of the trees casting and getting the whole pole tangled in the branches that were surrounding him.  Like anyone would cast from the middle of the flippin’ woods!

The people in them are way too excited about the product and the live audience is even worse.  They are obviously instructed when to “ohhh” and “Ahhh”.  I mean come on, I’m not impressed because you close the door on a rotisserie oven, and then “Set it and forget it”.  Then they show a regular rotisserie oven and the person spills grease all over the place, obviously on purpose.  I swear there should be a law that makes these kinds of exagerations illegal.  The “actors” they have in them are very poor and you can tell their complaints of the normal products are scripted.

I have bought a few of these items and none so far have even come close to the claims made by the infomercial.  I usually wind up going back to the original item that has been on the market for years.  Ever notice the items in the infomercials tend to dissapear after a few years?

What are your thoughts on infomercials?  Should there be some kind of law that prevents them from putting down the items currently on the market by exaggerating the “problems”? Why do we watch them anyway?  I think I do partly because I want to see how stupid the claims get.