Backchannelmedia

Journal Star; Peoria, Ill.

Stay up late at night? Do you find yourself channel surfing, running into one infomercial after another?

Infomercials are commercials that look and sound like TV shows, complete with celebrities. You know the ones: The 28-minute feature- length TV ads that Americans often complain about, but buy from them anyway. They sell things such as CortiSlim, an all-natural formula that addresses daily stress, the overproduction of cortisol in the body and weight gain, or the scunci steamer, a lightweight pressurized steamer that cleans virtually everything.

Then there are the "shows" that sell Body by Jake, to help you strengthen, sculpt and shape your body, and the ever-popular Ron Popeil's new Standard Ronco Rotisserie, featuring a three-hour automatic timer so you can spend less time cooking and have more time for your active lifestyle.

The Electronic Retailing Association reports that 63 percent of Americans watch some form of TV advertising, translating to a customer base of 136.2 million viewers.

According to the Baltimore Sun, in an article published earlier this year, this marks the 20th anniversary of these ubiquitous commercials. Every year, the article said, "men and women shell out more than $1 billion, buying stain eliminators, hair removers, veggie choppers, fat reducers and other products."

If you include short-form ads that drive people to stores searching for "As Seen on TV" products, gross revenue for such infomercials rose to $154.1 billion last year.

"That's nearly an 81 percent jump in just six years. Combine TV, radio and Internet retailing and it's a staggering $256 billion industry," the newspaper reported.

What do viewers think?

Good business, but how do viewers feel about infomercials? Read on: "I hate that infomercial where the guy is constantly saying 'I made millions of dollars by placing tiny little ads in papers all over the country,"' said Becky Barnett, 25, of Louisville, Ohio. "It makes me wish I could jump in the TV and tell him to go enjoy it and quit talking to me!

"Most infomercials annoy me. Between my husband and I, there are a total of six kids, so of course, all the ones that claim, 'This machine can make your life in the kitchen easier,' all sound good.

"The making-money ones pretty much annoy me because, these people get on there and say 'I made my money doing (whatever) . . .' so, you call the number on the screen and guess what? You can make that kind of money, too, if you pay them $349.

"That's how they are making their money! They are selling themselves to you and you fall for it because you want a fancy car like his that he just showed on the infomercial."

Holly Bolinger of Canton, Ohio, said, "The only thing we have ever bought based upon an infomercial is the Proactive skin care system. It has helped my daughter's skin tremendously, and on the occasions that she doesn't use it for a while, we realize just how good it does work.

"For the most part, we don't watch infomercials unless we are just too darn tired to find the remote to change the channel. The only other one I can recall seeing is the 'how to get rich using other people's money'-type ones, and as a former commercial lender, I sit back and say, 'Riiiiiggggghhhht!'

"It is a lot harder than they lay it out. Obviously, the infomercial person gets his money writing books or doing seminars."

Another reader, Jim Shannon, 57, of Canton, said, "If I'm surfing I might watch. I can get hooked real quick on kitchen gadgets. In fact, I bought a George Foreman grill. I didn't buy it through the infomercial, but seeing the product and the demonstration is what sold me. I bought it at a local store for a few dollars less.

"I love the Ronco (Ron Popeil) infomercials," he said. "I bought his pocket fishing pole years ago. I've also bought the car wax that's supposed to make your old beater look like it just came out of the showroom."

Well, Shannon said, that product didn't quite live up to its claims. "Not even close, but I used the free chamois for years." Other failures he has purchased include the pasta-cooking pot with the holes in half the lid for draining. "I think it was a large and small one and a couple of cheapie gadgets. The pans were made out of metal so thin that I was half afraid to put 'em on the stove.

"I did. They lasted less than three uses and the inside coating began to come off. I was going to use them for planters.

"The part that really irks me, though, is that the Bed, Bath and Beyond store at the Strip had 'em for a few bucks less. And finally, yes finally, I bought the famous Ginsu knives after watching the chef cut down a small tree, then slice a tomato paper-thin with the same knife.

"That deal came with two wonderful knives and a set of steak knives to use when your used-to-be-best friends unexpectedly show up for dinner. The large Ginsu knives actually worked pretty good until the beer can trick."

Not all are the same

Not all infomercials are created equally. Some are as educational as they are boastful.

Ron Ponder, president of Ponder Systems of North Canton, Ohio, has produced some infomercials.

"Infomercials are part of my business," he said. "I try to educate my audience, not just sell something to them."

Ponder does a variety of infomercials, then puts them together in an effort to "serve a dual purpose - marketing and public good."

"I will produce a 30-minute show that has four or five different segments, all with the same theme. For instance, I might do a show that will deal with mortgages, another segment will talk about real estate, and another might talk about insurance."

"I fear that an evolutionary offshoot of the original infomercials is the growing 'newsfomerical,"' Ponder said. "True journalism, when it comes to news that appears in newspapers or on TV and radio, is under siege, being led by the almighty dollar, the same dollar that inflates circulation numbers, sends jobs overseas and shareholder values up."

Chad Kapper, director of infomercials for StoneKap Productions of Canton, said, "Personally, I can take them or leave them. We've only done a handful of infomercials. Usually, we do corporate videos, marketing and training videos, and that sort of thing.

"I think the airwaves are flooded with them, especially on Sunday afternoons," he said. "They are just another form of marketing. Personally, I think they are better than spam."

Infomercials have become an accepted part of society, "much like traffic lights or waiting for trains at railroad crossings," said Dean Marini, general manager and producer for Image Video Teleproductions and WIVM-Channel 52 in North Canton. "It isn't something everyone enjoys, but they are an accepted part of our culture now.

"As a producer of infomercials, and because we have WIVM-TV, which airs infomercials, I get to see all three sides of it. . . . As a broadcaster, one of the things we try to do is limit the amount of time we sell to infomercial providers."

Marini said you cannot argue with the success people have had with infomercials, but he knows there is still a little stigma attached to them. "As a broadcaster, we try not to put infomercials in time slots where we have a heavy audience, because we feel we can better serve the public by not doing that.

"But, there are certain times of the day that there is a smaller audience and more of a targeted audience that might be receptive of the service being offered."

It depends on the product being sold, he said. "If people weren't buying the products, advertisers wouldn't be buying the infomercials!"