History Main / Infomercial

* In-universe example: ''Series/{{Castle}}'', "Sucker Punch". Johnny Vong gets rich off of "get rich quick" infomercials (thanks to a [[{{Fauxreigner}} fake accent]] and a rags-to-riches story that never was), as well as using the books as a front for the heroin trade. This was a direct allusion to the real life "tale" of Tom Vu in the early 1990s.

* Because of tighter broadcasting and commercial regulation, British TV is less blatant about its Infomercials. However, British TV has Creator/{{ITV}} and Creator/Channel5, who produce what on the face of things are holiday shows - or whole series - where a much-loved presenter gets to go on a jolly accompanied by a TV production team. On one level you get a pleasantly undemanding, and often visually attractive, feelgood holiday show. Then you might reflect that this is also incredibly good publicity for the hotel chain, the holiday park company, the cruise ship firm, et c. Especially when the presenter (unlike more traditional TV holiday review show such as Creator/{{the BBC}}'s ''Holiday...'' series) ''expresses no critical comment whatsoever'' and is gushingly up-beat and full of praise for the holiday, and the way the provider will go out of their way to provide the pluperfect holiday experience. Holiday shows on many British commercial TV channels are nothing more than cheap infill and disguised advertising, paid for by the product providers. Effectively, this is British TV's version of the Infomercial, albeit far less obnoxious and in-your-face compared to the American original.

* Because of tighter broadcasting and commercial regulation, British TV is less blatant about its Infomercials. However, British TV has Creator/{{ITV}} and Creator/Channel5, who produce what on the face of things are holiday shows - or whole series - where a much-loved presenter gets to go on a jolly accompanied by a TV production team. On one level you get a pleasantly undemanding, and often visually attractive, feelgood holiday show. Then you might reflect that this is also incredibly good publicity for the hotel chain, the holiday park company, the cruise ship firm, et c. Especially when the presenter (unlike more traditional TV holiday review show such as Creator/{{the BBC}}'s ''Holiday...'' series) ''expresses no critical comment whatsoever''and is gushingly up-beat and full of praise for the holiday, and the way the provider will go out of their way to provide the pluperfect holiday experience. Holiday shows on many British commercial TV channels are nothing more than cheap infill and disguised advertising, paid for by the product providers. Effectively, this is British TV's version of the Infomercial, albeit far less obnoxious and in-your-face compared to the American original.

* ''Advertising/NintendoWeek'' was a short form infomercial that can be viewed on the Wii Console's video channel. ranging from 10 to 15 minutes in length, it plugs the latest Wii and DS games with skits .

* Advertising/TheMagicBullet

* Because of tighter broadcasting and commercial regulation, British TV is less blatant about its Infomercials. However, British TV has Creator/{{ITV}} and Creator/ChannelFive, who produce what on the face of things are holiday shows - or whole series - where a much-loved presenter gets to go on a jolly accompanied by a TV production team. On one level you get a pleasantly undemanding, and often visually attractive, feelgood holiday show. Then you might reflect that this is also incredibly good publicity for the hotel chain, the holiday park company, the cruise ship firm, et c. Especially when the presenter (unlike more traditional TV holiday review show such as the Creator/{{BBC}}'s ''Holiday...'' series) ''expresses no critical comment whatsoever''and is gushingly up-beat and full of praise for the holiday, and the way the provider will go out of their way to provide the pluperfect holiday experience. Holiday shows on many British commercial TV channels are nothing more than cheap infill and disguised advertising, paid for by the product providers. Effectively, this is British TV's version of the Infomercial, albeit far less obnoxious and in-your-face compared to the American original.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Joey occasionally appeared in these during low points in his career including one for the "Milk Master 2000" as "Kevin" who [[TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket couldn't open milk cartons without spilling]]. The rest of the gang have occasionally admitted to buying items they've seen on informericals. Rachel ended up buying the "Milk Master" (to Joey's delight) while Monica has purchased a mop and a home body waxing kit, which Phoebe also considered getting. Chandler and Kathy later bond over the fact that he bought the "Wonder Broom" that she'd seen on tv.

* ''Advertising/NintendoWeek'' is a short form infomercial that can be viewed on the Wii Console's video channel. ranging from 10 to 15 minutes in length, it plugs the latest Wii and DS games with skits .

* Montel Williams took the "fake talk show" angle UpToEleven by disguising his infomercial (for a juicer) as '''his return to the talk-show world''', complete with ''Montel'' announcer and Sylvia Browne.

* Creator/BillyMays and [=OxiClean=] detergent. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwtL4MQoKRw A match made in heaven]], which may qualify as a FunnyAneurysmMoment.

* Particularly amusing are informercials for fitness devices. They will generally tell you how ineffective other devices are; often the same company promoted the ineffective device ''[[WhatAnIdiot only last month]]''.

* ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'': "[[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2000-11-12 Satisfied Customers]]".
-->''Disclaimer: The Devil, being the Prince of Lies, is known to trick people from time to time.''

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Joey occasionally appeared in these during low points in his career including one for the "Milk Master 3000" as "Kevin" who [[TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket couldn't open milk cartons without spilling]]. The rest of the gang have occasionally admitted to buying items they've seen on informericals. Monica has purchased a mop and a home body waxing kit, which Phoebe also considered getting. Chandler and Kathy later bond over the fact that he bought the "Wonder Broom" that she'd seen on tv.

* Because of tighter broadcasting and commercial regulation, British TV is less blatant about its Infomercials. However, British TV has Creator/{{ITV}} and Creator/ChannelFive, who produce what on the face of things are holiday shows - or whole series - where a much-loved presenter gets to go on a jolly accompanied by a TV production team. On one level you get a pleasantly undemanding, and often visually attractive, feelgood holiday show. Then you might reflect that this is also incredibly good publicity for the hotel chain, the holiday park company, the cruise ship firm, et c. Especially when the presenter (unlike more traditional TV holiday review show such as the Creator/{{BBC}}'s ''Holiday...'' series) ''expresses no critical comment whatsoever''. Holiday shows on many British commercial TV channels are nothing more than cheap infill and disguised advertising, paid for by the product providers. Effectively, this is British TV's version of the Infomercial, albeit far less obnoxious and in-your-face compared to the American original.

* ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'' "[[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2000-11-12 Satisfied Customers]]".

!!ButWaitTheresMore Act now and we'll throw in these examples, absolutely free!

* WebVideo/FiveSecondFilms has their very own Jon Worley, hawking such amazing products as [[http://5secondfilms.com/watch/it_slices_it_dices Chop Wow!]] (a device for disposing of dead hookers); [[http://5secondfilms.com/watch/watch_this Flip-a-baby]] (for if you hate babies); and in one case, [[http://5secondfilms.com/watch/demon_breath Jon Worley himself]] and his...[[EldritchAbomination special]] [[MundaneUtility cleaning powers]]:
-->''[[ContentWarnings The 5SF Network is not responsible to any deaths and damnations that may occur when using this product.]]''
* In-universe example: ''Series/{{Castle}}'', "Sucker Punch". Johnny Vong gets rich off of "get rich quick" infomercials (thanks to a [[{{Fauxreigner}} fake accent]] and a rags-to-riches story that never was), as well as using the books as a front for the heroin trade. This was a direct allusion to the real life "tale" of Tom Vu in the early 1990s.

* Parodied by ''[[Website/TheOnion The Onion News Network]]'', with a segment of the fake panel-discussion show "In the Know" quickly morphing into a pitch for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEFL4mZa8ys EZ-Go Juicer]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'' "[[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2000-11-12 Satisfied Customers]]".
-->''Disclaimer: The Devil, being the Prince of Lies, is known to trick people from time to time.''
* Parodied by Creator/AdultSwim when it first aired a Creator/DavidCross's ''Paid Programming'' -- which started as a parody infomercial for a product known as "Icelandic Ultra Blue", but quickly goes off the rails from there. Many viewers were confused by this, as infomercials typically show up in television guides as "Paid Programming", although [[FridgeLogic the channel doesn't ever play infomercials.]] The Icelandic Ultra Blue infomercial was meant to be a pilot for a full series (it ends with a SequelHook), but this never came to fruition. However, Adult Swim has hidden other one-off short films under the guise of "Paid Programming", including ''Film/TooManyCooks'', ''Film/UneditedFootageOfABear'', and ''Film/ThisHouseHasPeopleInIt''.
* And pilloried by the ''Website/AdTurds'' blog, where they are taken as evidence of Great Britain yet again adopting the very worst socio-cultural phenomena to come out of the USA.
* Steve Goodman's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnqtGjHJjs8 Vegematic]]" is about a guy who fell asleep with the TV on and "dreamed I ordered every single one / of those late-night mail-order ads", proceeding into a ListSong of all the junk that came through his door four to six weeks later.
* InUniverse example: In 2004, Wrestling/{{WWE}} introduced Wrestling/MikeBucci as "Simon Dean," an [[WrestlingDoesntPay evil wrestling infomercial fitness guru]], who was supposed to be ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} Raw]]'''s newest "sponsor."

* Creator/OatsStudios parodies this with the ''Cooking With Bill'' shorts, hawking [[{{Squick}} grossly]] [[GoneHorriblyWrong malfunctioning]] kitchen implements.

* The Advertising/FlexSeal family of products, featuring Phil Swift, the more ebullient SpiritualSuccessor to Billy Mays, and his ridiculous demonstrations, such as taking a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]] to a bucket and [[OverlyLongGag spraying it with Flex Seal]], turning a [[TheAllegedCar rusty truck]] into a submarine, sawing a boat in half and repairing it with only Flex Tape, and cutting a hole in another boat only to repair it with Flex Tape Clear and move it into shark-infested waters.

* Most amusing are when the product advertised is a supposed "improvement" over a common household item (such as a drill or hammer.) The [[MajorMinorInconvenience inevitable attempt to make the regular product look "clumsy"]] just makes the spokespeople look like complete idiots.

* Parodied in the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "[[MysteryScienceTheater3000S01E09ProjectMoonBase Project Moon Base]]", where Joel and Bots present an infomercial for "SPACOM", a mystery substance that can be used for just about everything, from industrial solvent to snack food. The infomercial borrows claims and catchphrases from a number of popular '80s infomercials.

* The Advertising/FlexSeal family of products, featuring Phil Swift, the more ebullient SpiritualSuccessor to Billy Mays, and his ridiculous demonstrations, such as taking a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]] to a bucket and [[OverlyLongGag spraying it with Flex Seal]], turning a [[TheAllegedCar rusty truck]] into a submarine,
sawing a boat in half and repairing it with only Flex Tape, and cutting a hole in another boat only to repair it with Flex Tape Clear and move it into shark-infested waters.