Prompt 338-Infomercial

Have you ever bought anything off an infomercial, if so what and did you like it?

I’ve never bought anything from a TV ad where you have to call and they charge you $8.95 for shipping and handling, but I have probably bought a few things from brick and mortar stores that sell “As Seen on TV!” items. Usually by that point I’m buying it out of curiosity. “Does it even work?”

Of course, I say that, and then can’t actually remember buying anything. Almost all of the items I can think of that I owned at one point or another were gifted to me. The most recent was the Veggetti spiralizer that we got as a wedding gift. I used it a lot this summer on the zucchini from my garden. It’s super easy to use and clean.

Another gift, which now that I think of it might have gotten donated during the move, was the Perfect Brownie Pan. The concept is that it’s a regular pan with a grid-like divider insert that “pre-cuts” the brownies as they bake, so that they’re all edge piece all the way around, and a removable bottom for easy cooling. Just, drop the base on a stand and the pan falls away from the brownies. I feel like the base was sometimes resistant to separating and the non-stick coating wasn’t always so non-stick, but I did get yummy brownies out of it. Never did use the stencils though.

I feel like it goes without saying, but yes, I have a Snuggie. It’s buried in a closet somewhere because I always forget I have it, but I do own one. It’s one of those things I feel like we all had at one point after laughing at people who bought them sincerely before realizing we were just jealous of their ability to be wrapped in a blanket but still be mobile and free to use their hands. That was a Christmas gift. Pretty sure mom got one for each of us girls that year. I should really dig that out soon. The nights get cool pretty quick around here.

Oh! Space Bags! Those are As Seen on TV! I bought them at Walmart in the long, long ago when I couldn’t afford to shop anywhere else. They made moving so much easier. I have way too many clothes and it seems no matter how many times I go through them to toss/donate items, the piles never get smaller.

I never bought them myself, but when I worked at Ace Hardware we had those Topsy Turvy tomato planters for sale and people would always ask me how well they worked. Luckily, I had other customers who bought them and loved them enough to tell me how much they loved them. Mostly when they would come back to buy more, sometimes for themselves but just as often as gifts for friends or family members.

Infomercials have sort of fallen off as a viable means of selling a product it seems. The internet makes it far too easy to buy things from dozens of different sites. There are still commercials and such of course, but I don’t know anyone who calls the toll-free number in 2019 instead of just searching for the thing on Amazon or Google. Plus, there are lots of knock-offs out there claiming to be the same as the thing you saw on TV. Always read the reviews!

What about you? Have you ever purchased something from an infomercial? Did you just go online or did you call? My step-dad used to watch QVC religiously near the holidays for gifts for my mom. He might still call the number in this year of our Lord, two thousand and nineteen, ha! Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.

That does it for me and this prompt tonight. See you tomorrow!

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