Pioneering TV pitchman Ron Popeil dies at age 86

[signalmankenneth]

Anybody ever bought any of Ron's products?

(CNN Business) Infomercial king Ron Popeil died "suddenly and peacefully" Wednesday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to a statement provided to CNN by Popeil representative Eric Ortner.

He was 86.

Popeil started his sales career in Chicago-area flea markets at the age of 16, according to his official biography.

In 1959 he appeared in his first TV commercial, hawking the Ronco Chop-o-Matic food dicer. Debuting the earnestly dramatic style that became his trademark, Popeil said, "I'm going to show you the greatest kitchen appliance ever made."

Popeil followed with a flurry of other made-for-TV inventions, dizzying in both their number and variety. They included the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone and the Electric Food Dehydrator. Popeil said he was not just a salesman, but also an inventor who designed many of the products himself.

Although his company Ronco was already a household name in the 1970s, Popeil's fame exploded in the 80s when looser federal regulations on TV ads allowed him to go from brief commercials to 30-minute self-contained "infomercials," which soon dominated late night and weekend schedules.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/28/us/ro...ead/index.html

[Concart]

Shoot, I wonder if Anatta will get a bunch of orders for the pocket fisherman.

[T. A. Gardner]

He's to be buried in a Coffin-O-Matic...

[Phantasmal]

Anybody ever bought any of Ron's products?

(CNN Business) Infomercial king Ron Popeil died "suddenly and peacefully" Wednesday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to a statement provided to CNN by Popeil representative Eric Ortner.

He was 86.

Popeil started his sales career in Chicago-area flea markets at the age of 16, according to his official biography.

In 1959 he appeared in his first TV commercial, hawking the Ronco Chop-o-Matic food dicer. Debuting the earnestly dramatic style that became his trademark, Popeil said, "I'm going to show you the greatest kitchen appliance ever made."

Popeil followed with a flurry of other made-for-TV inventions, dizzying in both their number and variety. They included the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone and the Electric Food Dehydrator. Popeil said he was not just a salesman, but also an inventor who designed many of the products himself.

Although his company Ronco was already a household name in the 1970s, Popeil's fame exploded in the 80s when looser federal regulations on TV ads allowed him to go from brief commercials to 30-minute self-contained "infomercials," which soon dominated late night and weekend schedules.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/28/us/ro...ead/index.html

I remember the pocket fisherman, I really wanted one of those.

RIP!

[Guno צְבִי]

Shoot, I wonder if Anatta will get a bunch of orders for the pocket fisherman.

But wait!! if you call in the next ten minutes anatta will give you free medical advice!!!! and as a special gift for just shipping and handling!!! Speak in Tongues in 5-Days or Your Money Back! by stretch

TONGUES: shun-doo-lah!

ENGLISH: "Look at me!

TONGUES: shun-doo-lah, mah-shundah!

ENGLISH: "Look at me! Look'it what I can do!"

DVD extras include: Basic Snake-Handling, Pew-Jumping Safety, Beginner's Chandelier Swinging, and the popular short instructional film, Slayed in the Spirit: Failsafe Protocals - When You're in the Wrong Church and the Congregation Goes for the Gun Rack, It's Time to Play Dead.

[Concart]

But wait!! if you call in the next ten minutes anatta will give you free medical advice!!!!

So I should wait then. Alexa, set a time for ten minutes and 1 second.

[dukkha]

^ from Saturday Night Live

[Concart]

Oh no, he banned me from his thread. I think I'm getting under his skin.

[dukkha]

what I want on my tombstone

BUT WAIT!!! THERE'S MORE!!

[dukkha]

Popeil’s cultural reach extended far past his products, with many of his consumerism colloquialisms entering the popular lexicon: “Set it and forget it!” “Call now!” and “But wait, there’s more!”

[Nordberg]

He discovered that advertising can make a successof a shitty product. That is a lesson that My Pillow guy learned. You do not need to invent a better mousetrap. You just have to lack enough scruples to lie, lie, lie about it.