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You can't miss them as you flip through the vast spectrum of cable channels. More than 225,000 half-hour infomercials and countless shorter ads air on TV each month. "As Seen on TV" products promise to solve your most vital household, exercise and personal grooming problems -- dull knives, dry pot roast, flabby buttocks, lifeless hair -- with no hassle and easy cleanup, in only minutes!
Two new infomercials are broadcast each day. Some will run just once; others may linger for years. If we buy, the ad stays on. If we don't, it disappears.
And boy are we buying. The Electronic Retailing Association says that 29 percent of us have at some point succumbed to the siren call and bought an infomercial product. Industry experts estimate that we spent $5 billion on "As Seen" merchandise last year, up from $1.2 billion in 1996.
Why the boom? Not only are there more ads than ever, but more cable channels to watch them on and more viewers with access to the channels. About 25 percent of the programming on cable and local broadcast TV is an infomercial, says the Infomercial Monitoring Service. Even mainstream companies like Bose stereos and Sears Craftsman tools now run infomercials.
"There have been a lot of scam artists in our industry, and there are still some," says veteran infomercial maker Tim Hawthorne, whose company has had clients like the Aero Bed and Time-Life music. "But if a show looks high quality, there's a greater chance that it's coming from a reputable company."
Infomercial icon Ron Popeil, who has brought us gems such as the Veg-O-Matic, GLH Formula #9 (the spray that hides bald spots) and the Showtime Rotisserie Oven, says that the secret to an effective ad is explaining, not deceiving. "There are no miracles in my projects," he says. "If you give the consumer a quality product, they'll pay a fair price."
Buyers stand a much better chance of getting their money's worth if they avoid things that promise improved health, weight loss, pain relief, hair growth or making money. Of the 72 infomercial lawsuits brought by the Federal Trade Commission since 1989, 55 deal with alleged deceptive claims in these areas. "Last year, we sued the top three selling ab stimulators," says Elaine Kolish of the FTC consumer protection bureau. "One claimed it was the equivalent of doing 600 crunches in ten minutes." Those cases are pending.
Beyond that, a ripoff is in the eye of the beholder. Virtually every "As Seen" product comes with a money-back guarantee if you're not completely satisfied. The big question is: What products will satisfy? After a few late nights and rainy weekends in front of the tube, it was too much for us to resist. Reader's Digest purchased top sellers (skipping pain potions and ab gizmos) and had staff members test them to find out once and for all.
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