Infomercials: The Good, The Bad and The Extremely Ugly
By Steve Bryant
March 2003
Ron Popeil created the first infomercial, right? Contrary to popular belief, the gifted inventor (he really is) was a virtual Johnny-Come-Lately in the field of electronic direct response marketing. The first true broadcast infomercial was a Chicago radio broadcast by Reverend Paul Rader. The preacher figured that if he broadcast his church services on a local radio station, he could reach an entirely new congregation, passing them an electronic collection plate.
The gamble paid off, big time. The reverend’s mail-in collections far exceeded the cost to air the broadcast. In 1928, Reverend Donald Barnhouse bought time for his church on the fledgling CBS radio network. (This could explain a great deal about current Infinity programming). Again, his church prospered, taking in far more in collections than the cost of the airtime.
An industry was born, sort of. A church could solicit for donations without having to send anything in return. Prevailing technologies of the times made shipping products to individual homes difficult, if not impossible. Most radio advertising consisted of conventional commercials urging consumers to buy a specific product or brand or shop at a particular store. This type of advertising remained in place for several decades.
In the 1950’s, fulfillment and shipping technology had advanced enough to allow direct response advertising, selling products directly to viewers and listeners. The amount of advertising time was not regulated. Anyone with enough money could buy a half hour on television (mostly live, video tape hadn’t been invented) or radio and sell their product directly to the consumer.
Most of the early “pitchmen” came from county fairs, boardwalks and in-store demonstrations. I remember when my mother came home from a seashore trip in the 1950’s with a set of knives that had amazed her. “They cut a tin can in half and then sliced a tomato so thin you could read a newspaper through it,” I remember her saying. I’ve since discovered that virtually any serrated knife of any quality can do the same thing. It’s not cutting, it’s sawing.
Ron Popeil was one of the first people from this type of background to realize the power of television as a direct sales medium. As an amateur inventor at the time, he also knew that if you created the product you were selling, the profit potential was far greater than buying an existing product and reselling it.
Popeil spawned many imitators on both TV and radio. So many, in fact, that the government imposed new regulations limiting the amount of advertising time in each broadcast hour. This effectively ended the infomercial industry at the time. Short form direct response ads (two minutes or less) remained, but their effectiveness and profitability represented a small fraction of the half hour spots, with the exception of music.
Music was a big seller in the early days of television. On NBC, the recordings of the fabled NBC Orchestra were sold during and after on-air concerts. As you might think, these ads were very staid, conservative and, by today’s standards, extremely boring. However, they did sell a lot of recordings. Although these early direct response ads were extremely laid back, they capitalized on the excitement of the moment, relying on the impulse response of the consumer. Remember, there were no 800 numbers (invented in the late 70’s) or credit cards. You sent “cash, check or money order to Box XYZ, Grand Central Station, New York, New York.”
Specialty music, such as polka, big band instrumental and Christmas music, was also sold directly in the early days of TV. During the 1950’s, regional polka bands, various novelty instrumental groups (The Harmonica Rascals and many of the Philadelphia String Bands were among the most popular), and various big bands, (especially Benny Goodman and the Dorsey Brothers) sold enormous numbers of records on television. In most cases, these records were sold during regularly scheduled programs featuring the various artists. In the case of the Philadelphia String bands, the direct response spots ran during the New Year’s parade as well as in combination with commercials for their post-New Year series of concerts.
Except for music and few other products, direct response advertising disappeared from radio. However, border radio stations (on the Mexico/US border) used their half-million watt flamethrower signals to sell all manner of questionable products to the American Public. They sold everything from discount salvation to miracle electronic pain relieving “thing-a-ma-bobs.” Some still do, offering their “advertisers” a complete package including Canadian P.O. boxes and offshore accounts to avoid any US interference.
It wasn’t until 1984, When President Reagan deregulated television and radio, that long form infomercials were allowed back on-the-air. The floodgates were open. Thousands of infomercials were produced for TV and radio within a few years. Stations anxious to increase their billing, especially in the historically dead overnight periods, accepted any and all half hour infomercials.
Unfortunately for the consumer, there were few government regulations that dealt with the quality of the products and the validity of the claims that were made. Infomercial products could cure cancer, give you more energy (which is now illegal to claim for any ingestible product) or make you a millionaire overnight.
Enter the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration. It didn’t take long for the complaints to come in by the thousands. People still had cancer, no energy and were even more broke now that they had shelled out their hard earned dollars for useless products. The FTC and FDA began hearing cases and creating regulations. Sadly, the wheels of government turn slowly and many useless products made their sellers rich before they were stopped.
Not to say that all TV and radio infomercial products are worthless. Some reputable infomercial producers like California’s Guthy Renker would only sell a product if it met their very strict guidelines, often more stringent than government regulations.
The origin of the Home Shopping Network, the first major televised shopping channel, predates the 1984 commercial time deregulation. In 1977, a Florida radio station accepted 112 electric can openers as payment for delinquent account. They sold the can openers on-air, selling them all in a few minutes. The station began selling more and more products directly to their listeners. In the early 1980’s, they bought time on a local cable station for the sole purpose of selling products.
Since cable has never been as closely regulated as broadcast television, their multi-hour “bargathons” were perfectly legal. However, they began to make exaggerated claims about everything from the efficacy of the products to the actual monetary savings in order to increase sales, attracting further government attention.
In the late 1980’s, government agencies began to impose strict regulations on the infomercial industry, especially regarding television broadcasts. Radio infomercials began to increase in popularity. They cost less to produce and air, making them very profitable, if the product was popular. It’s interesting to note that only 1 in 20 infomercials (either TV or radio) ever make money. But when they do, the dollars come rolling in staggering amounts. That’s why you hear the same few infomercials running over and over on both TV and radio.
As HSN and QVC (founded in 1987) made televised shopping a popular national pastime, radio infomercials were truly “under the radar.” The FTC, FDA and other regulatory agencies were too busy with the multi-billion televised shopping industry to pay much attention to radio. That’s all it took.
Dozens, if not hundreds of totally ineffective ingestible products hit the radio airwaves. These companies even had “war chests” or factored in the millions of dollars in fines and legal bills they would have to pay as cost to do business. Some of these companies made millions, even after paying their hefty fines. They would simply pay their fine, pocket their money, go out of business and start all over again.
This is not to say that all companies selling ingestible products are scam artists. On the contrary, some supplements sold on radio infomercials really do work as claimed. There are some reputable companies who make and sell good products at a fair price via radio infomercials. And their inventors and spokespeople make totally legitimate claims.
On the “Dark Side,” while claims made by the creators of health and fitness products and radio stations are strictly regulated, statements made by uncompensated consumers, are not. Hence, the “Testimonial Call.” People are joiners, they want to be on a winning team. If product X cured Ethel from Des Moines’ gout, then it will cure mine. So what if Ethel is 21, healthy and fit and I’m 82 and in very bad health.
Any listener/viewer testimonial must be taken with a large grain of salt, even if you’re on a sodium restricted diet. Someone taking the time to call in and extol the virtues of any product, especially an ingestible one, is trying to help. However, given all the variables of the human condition, these calls may do more harm than good.
HSN and QVC run frequent disclaimers stating something like, “You may hear viewers calling in to give their opinions of a particular product. The views they express represent only their opinions and not those of the network or any of its affiliates. But we really want your calls.” I’ve yet to hear any such warnings on a radio infomercial. Bottom line? Caveat Emptor.
Let’s not forget the old throwaway line “Your results may vary.” Legally, it must now be stated, “Your results WILL vary. “ Still, most people who are watching or listening to an infomercial at 3AM are looking for something and will hear only what they want to hear.
Even the late Dr. James Corea, the king of the health and fitness infomercial, used to say “If there were a magic pill to lose weight without eating less or exercising, don’t you think a major pharmaceutical company would own it and sell it for a thousand bucks a pop? And people would pay it.”
It’s interesting to note that several different “miracle” weight loss products marketed through TV and radio infomercials made millions of dollars, even after the FDA deemed them to be totally ineffective.
In radio, like TV, infomercials are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. They represent easy money for a station’s sales staff, a quick way to meet quotas and keep mother Viacom or Clear Channel off your back. It’s sad that there are so few “real” radio salespeople anymore. I worked at a station in the early 70’s where the sales staff was a “lean, mean selling machine.” They took the time to romance a client, worked 60 plus hours a week and made scads of money for themselves and the station. (Did I mention that they also walked 5 miles to work every day through 3 feet of snow?)
While infomercials usually herald the eventual demise of a radio station (or at least its current format), in the short term they do make money for the people selling the products and the stations who run them. It’s a pity. Philadelphia lost its FM talker in large part because constant infomercials made it unlistenable. It looks like history could be repeating itself on AM.
The lure of easy infomercial money is difficult to turn down. But it is essential that any station now accustomed to easy infomercial dollars turn its attention its overall programming and especially its listeners. I realize that a conglomerate like Viacom/infinity has an obligation to its stockholders. But that has to be a long term commitment, not just easy dollars for now. A radio station can serve its stockholders by creating interesting and compelling programming for its listeners. That will bring greater ratings, more advertisers and greater advertising revenues. It’s a win/win scenario.
Infomercials already helped to kill one Philadelphia talk station. It would be tragic if we lost a 50,000 watt, clear channel heritage talker to the same disease. Of course there’s always NJ 101.5…”Toll booths, love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Give us a call….”