Infomercials - Television Advertising
Infomercials are television commercials that tout various products and services. They can be seen in many channels across the country and are typically selling a product or service that is not new, rather it's something that has been around for quite some time.
In my blog post, I will discuss what infomercials are like from a business perspective, present self-analysis of infomercials to determine how people react to them, as well as discuss how I believe the Middle Ages may have influenced the development of infomercials through their "predatory" lifestyle.
Finally, I will present recommendations on how to avoid the potential pitfalls of infomercials and how entrepreneurs can develop a highly successful business utilizing this type of marketing.
What Is an Infomercial?
An infomercial is a type of TV commercial that uses testimonials, misleading statements, and manipulative editing to sell products or services. The advertising is typically 30-60 seconds long, although some TV stations may choose to run them as longer commercials in order to maximize the number of times they are aired. Most infomercials are aired on cable channels like The Shopping Channel, QVC and HSN. In addition, most national supermarket chains have their own supply chain networks who air these commercials as well.
Infomercials can be viewed in many other forms, including DVD and online, but the majority of them are aired during the day. Part of an infomercial's appeal is that they only cost $20,000-30,000 per 30-second commercial and are usually sold by "over the phone" companies or independent salespeople.
Infomercials vary widely in style and presentation (I will not discuss what is considered "good" or "bad" here), but they function in a very similar way: present company's product as having extraordinary performance benefits - usually over and above those of competing products .
Here is an example of an infomercial for a razor:
How Are Infomercials Made?
It is said that infomercials are not made by consulting with medical professionals or salesmen, but by child psychologists and sociologists. The more successful these products are, the more money shills make. Here is how it usually works: someone creates a new product under their own company (or one owned by a "family member"). This person creates a TV commercial that talks about their extraordinary performance benefits. For example: "They shave the hair off your face, so you don't have to shave your face." The same person can also sell their product or service over the phone via infomercials. Studies have shown that most people who buy products over the phone do so within 30 minutes of seeing a commercial.
Infomercials often rely on the use of testimonials, which are usually obtained from friends or family members. This takes the form of the endorsement for a person whose life has been radically improved by using said product or service. Here is an example: "My husband had a huge dark spot on his back from warts and it went away with one application." Another example: "I've never been able to get my legs to look as smooth as they can because I have hairy legs. But since I started using this razor, I never have to shave. I don't have to use shaving cream or wax anymore and my legs look like they do when I walk around all day."
This is also a major factor in the success of infomercials: the more difference a product makes, the more shills they make. For example, if I were to tell you that my new razor made you look six years younger and helped you live longer too; well...then your interest would be piqued.
With these testimonials from satisfied customers, the salespeople who sell these products rarely take a cut of their profits. This is because this is believed to make them less motivated to sell and therefore lead dissatisfied customers back around for another try-out. Instead, the salespeople who sell these products are paid regular salaries, or they are given bonuses based on how well they perform and what percentage of their sales they reach.
Infomercials also rely on manipulative editing. Most infomercials wouldn't be able to sell their products if the public actually knew how much you had to pay for them. So most infomercials use a lot of sleazy editing techniques to make their customers feel like they're getting something that is worth spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on. For example, most infomercials edit out the fact that you would have to be an idiot not to see results with this product (such as eating foods that accelerate hair growth).
Here is an example of a diet product infomercial:
This particular infomercial is for a "permanent" hair loss solution. At the end of the commercial, you are told that they also have an "an easy to follow" diet plan that will show you how to lose weight successfully and permanently. The diet plan isn't really hard to follow if you eat right, but the implication is that it's going to be hard if you don't buy their product.
In addition, they do not mention how much this little diet solution is going to cost you. In fact, it costs $144 plus shipping and handling. There are no real details given on the commercial either. If you do not want to buy the product but are interested in seeing the details of the diet plan, you'll have to call a toll free number and listen to someone go on and on about how great their program is.
Some infomercials rely more on both social and cultural factors when trying to make a sale than others. Here is an example of a commercial for some kind of contraption made by "snake oil salesman" Dr. Sooth (a reference to the legendary "Dr. Sooth", who is often credited as being the father of modern day infomercials):
Dr. Sooth specializes in products that target "males between 18-65 years old with lagging libidos". He also makes a lot of claims that his products are "guaranteed" to work if you use them regularly.
There are several interesting things about this infomercial: firstly, it relies heavily on the use of European models. This is common practice in infomercials because in the early days of infomercials and TV commercials in general, people believed that women ran the shopping decisions in their homes. This may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that people are often persuaded more by what they see than they are by what they hear.
This commercial also relies heavily on testimonials from people who had no problem getting erections due to their use of this product(s).
Conclusion
In conclusion, infomercials certainly make a lot of money - sometimes a large amount of money. However, the amount of profit that is made is often insignificant compared to the huge amount of time, energy and money that have to be spent in order to make it. Here is an example: if you were to divide up the average profits made by infomercial companies in 1991 by the number of minutes they spent running their commercials during the entire year (as most infomercial companies do), you would find that each minute would not even yield you one dollar worth of profit. As you can see, simply spending a lot more resources on your ads does not mean that you will make more money than other companies.