Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with infomercials

Alternatives to Tony Robbins?

surenoproblem — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:50:54 -0800

Recommendation for alternatives to Tony Robbins for people who find Tony Robbins a little eerie? After borrowing it from the library, I've been surprised by how useful Tony Robbins's Program, "Get the Edge" has been to me, but I can't shake the feeling that Tony Robbins is a bit of a fast-talking salesman type guy.

Are there some good alternatives that are more thoughful, less like an infomercial?

I suppose I'm looking for something that helps me to pause from the activities of life, to consider my life and what's important to me, and then remind me to apply myself towards these goals.

I also like that it's on CDs; something about hearing someone's voice makes it easy to digest the information. And I like the structure, 31 days (or whatever) and you do a certain amount each day, building up progress.

Do you guys have recommendations?

Need help remembering a product from an old infomercial!

LiquidKarma — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:31:00 -0800

Does anyone remember an infomercial from the late 80s/early 90s that advertised a product that you could easily crochet "granny" squares? I think the squares actually popped off this thing and then you could sew them together. I can't remember the name of the product!

What the crap do I call this thing?

shwynn2 — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:05:29 -0800

Looking for a spatula that can pick up and flip food, especially fish. These were on infomercials for a while... I'm looking to buy one of these for a family member who wants one, but I cannot for the life of me think of what to call it, so google searches have been fruitless.

It's like a spatula made of wire, and it's flat. It somehow opens up to be like tongs almost? And you can use it to pick up and flip a piece of fish.

I remember seeing tacky as-seen-on-tv commercials for it maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Any ideas?

Informercials

Slimemonster — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 13:08:40 -0800

Has anyone written some sort of scholarly critique or observations about infomercials and their bizarre and sort of addictive appeal? There's this infomercial that airs all the time (in Seattle at least) about the "Magic Bullet" which as far as I can tell is a glorified blender. I have no intention of buying this machine, but everytime the informercial is on, I feel an odd compulsion to watch it all the way through, smiling and kind of getting into the demonstration of the product. What is that? have there been studies about the appeal of informercials and their infiltration into pop culture (I'm sure most TV watchers know that RonCo guy or "set it and forget it").