With a net worth of $200 million, There is no doubt that Popeil isn’t the king of sales and advertising. After watching two of his infomercials. His Pasta maker infomercial & his Rotisserie and BBQ infomercial You can see how his advertisements could be perceived as so convincing. Popeil uses tactics such as consistently using the audience as a prop to assist him in his act. He constantly engages with the audience to reinforce a positive aspect to what his product has to offer. By asking participants to engage in his infomercial and allowing them to speak on behalf of the product and the greatness it has to offer. This subliminally convinces consumers watching the infomercial that they should also invest in the product so they too could have it. Another part of Popeil’s strategy during his infomercials that I found quite humorous was the way he would inform the audience on how much of a bargain they would be getting the product for if they purchased the product immediately. By informing the audience of the of its high demand, and its suggested retail price ; he beings comparing it to the price that he’s now offering it for. Consumers believe in the “sweet bargain” they have the opportunity to receive and ultimately fall for the product solely off of convincing advertising.
Although infomercials could be quite tedious and annoying to watch I must admit that it is indeed eye catching and unless you are informed that the advertisers ultimate goal is to make money from you I can see how it could be so easy to fall for product promotion. The power of suggestion often works well because people have a tendency to want what others have. Especially if it’s a new popular kitchen gadget that’s in high demand and will allow you to impress your fellow neighbors, guests, extended family members and colleagues.
In terms of production values the two informercials I watched aired in 2000, which is now almost 20 years ago. With the exception of pixels and camera quality Informercials today pretty much look the same. It was well put together, and there were studio audience participants in both of the infomercials, just like the ones you can see on T.V in 2019. In both infomercials the audience members engaged with the product and gave their personal opinion on how they felt positively about the product and what amazing benefits it had to offer. I find it quite interesting that although a decent amount of time has passed from then to now, people are still persuaded by the tactics and skills advertisers and marketers use to engage consumers in purchasing their not so unique products.
The NKD Truth 