Until I asked someone last week, I didn’t know who Billy Mays was. Now I do: He’s an infomercial pitchman who has seized a small corner of the zeitgeist. I wouldn’t spend further time thinking about this, but I just Stumbled across something concerning his arch-rival Vince Offer (whom I also had to Google) that makes me laugh.

Offer offers (sorry, couldn’t resist) two products: The Sham-wow (!) and the Slap Chop. In true Ron Popeil fashion, Offer bundles the latter with another product that you get free with your purchase, a mini cheese grater called The Graty. If infomercials weren’t doing so well for Offer, I’d suggest a naming consultancy. Somehow, “Slap Chop” sounds just risque enough for this end of the marketplace.

Here’s part of the spot for the Slap Chop. (And no, you don’t need to watch it all.)

OK, now think briefly about what you just saw, and then go to this page and click on any of the sound files. (All of them are great, but the one above his head is best.) Context is everything.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 11:09 pm and is filed under On seeing, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.