History Main / MailOrderNovelty

* The magician and comedian Paul Zenon had a whole show, ''Monkey Business'', about these novelties, begining with how he became fascinated with them from reading the ads at the back of American comics, all the intriguing because, living in the UK, he couldn't actually order them, and going on to work at a joke shop in Blackpool selling similar things, which is how he got interested in magic. He also looked at the bizarre life and career of Harold von Braunhut, the man behind Sea Monkeys and many of the other items. At one point he describes asking his boss at the joke shop about some of the mail order novelties the joke shop ''didn't'' sell, and was told "Because they're crap." When Zenon suggested that it was ''all'' kind of crap, his boss clarified that ''this'' was the sort of crap you ''only'' sold if the customers couldn't actually find you afterwards.

[[folder: Stand-Up Comedy]]
* The magician and comedian Paul Zenon had a whole show, ''Monkey Business'', about these novelties, begining with how he became fascinated with them from reading the ads at the back of American comics, all the intriguing because, living in the UK, he couldn't actually order them, and going on to work at a joke shop in Blackpool selling similar things, which is how he got interested in magic. He also looked at the bizarre life and career of Harold von Braunhut, the man behind Sea Monkeys and many of the other items. At one point he describes asking his boss at the joke shop about some of the mail order novelties the joke shop ''didn't'' sell, and was told "Because they're crap." When Zenon suggested that it was ''all'' kind of crap, his boss clarified that ''this'' was the sort of crap you ''only'' sold if the customers couldn't actually ''find'' you afterwards.

These products were infamous for making TooGoodToBeTrue promises in their ads and failing to deliver on every count. The toys were cheaply made and flimsy. The X-ray goggles merely created an optical illusion and didn't allow for someone to see through their skin (or for a HormoneAddledTeenager to see through a girl's clothes). Purported {{Hypno Ray}}s were just 10-cent pieces of plastic with a spiral pattern on them. The fad diets and workout regimens were either placebos or required far more time and effort than the marketing implied. Anyone who got one of these would inevitably end up disappointed, throwing it away and cursing themselves for being suckered in by such obvious SchmuckBait. But if it performs as advertised, especially for ones making incredible claims? Then things tend to get ''very'' interesting.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'': A RunningGag in the series involves Roger sending away for a novelty whistle used to solve a puzzle in ''SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge'', but because he didn't send in the payment, the TimeSkip between the games, and the company's cheerful disregard for sentient life (they made a slot machine that could potentially ''vaporize'' an unlucky player), this results in a succession of BountyHunter robots sent out after Roger in future installments.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': A [[https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?id=724 non-canon comic]] says that Catalina's very poor {{Gaydar}} is because she bought a literal gaydar device from a comic book ad that advertised itself as "100% accurate."

* In the indie limited series ''ComicBook/{{Specs}}'', two teenage male friends (one white, one black) order a pair of "Gamma Ray Magic Specs" they saw in a comic book ad, which supposedly has the ability to grant the wearer's wishes. One of the friends wishes the other wins in a baseball game, but things get a turn for the worse when they are assaulted by their bully and they wish for him to be gone. The bully's disappearance shakes the small-town community, and the black friend is wrongly blamed, although later acquitted. The white friend, meanwhile, tries to locate the glasses' manufacturers and makes his way to an abandoned factory. The glasses are indeed wish-granting, and its previous owner was a lonely teenage girl who wished on prom night that people would never forget her. The glasses granted her that wish, [[JackassGenie but not in the way she wanted]]: her boyfriend drowned her in a pond, and her body wasn't found until a week later. Her hometown [[ExactWords certainly didn't forget her]] after that...

* [[Literature/{{Spellsinger}} Paths of the Perambulator]]'': Jon-Tom tries to use magic to summon a riding snake towards the beginning of the novel but [[IneptMage ends up with a $25 Jeep by accident]]. He then has to explain to Clothehump what a $25 Jeep is ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a military surplus jeep that could allegedly be bought for $25 from a magazine advertisement]]). The fact that he made one appear makes him wonder about whether or not he could summon real, working versions of other mail order novelty items like x-ray glasses or [[BreastExpansion bust-enhancing pills]]. The jeep turns out to work, [[TheAllegedCar but it's an incredibly bumpy ride due to having apparently no suspension system and guzzles gas at a tremendous rate]]. They sell it once they get to the next town.

* [[Literature/{{Spellsinger}} Paths of the Perambulator]]'': Jon-Tom tries to use magic to summon a riding snake towards the beginning of the novel but [[IneptMage ends up with a $25 Jeep by accident]]. He then has to explain to Clothehump what a $25 Jeep is ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a military surplus jeep that could allegedly be bought for $25 from a magazine advertisement]]). The fact that he made one appear makes him wonder about whether or not he could summon real, working versions of other mail order novelty items like x-ray glasses or [[BreastExpansion bust-enhancing pills]].

These products were infamous making TooGoodToBeTrue promises in their ads, and failing to deliver on every count. The toys were cheaply-made and flimsy. The X-ray goggles merely created an optical illusion and didn't allow for someone to see through their skin (or for a HormoneAddledTeenager to see through a girl's clothes). Purported {{Hypno Ray}}s were just 10-cent pieces of plastic with a spiral pattern on them. The fad diets and workout regimens were either placebos or required far more time effort than the marketing implied. Anyone who got one of these would inevitably end up disappointed, throwing it away and cursing themselves for being suckered in by such obvious SchmuckBait. But if it performs as advertised, especially for ones making incredible claims? Then things tend to get ''very'' interesting.

The economic and cultural trends of the TurnOfTheMillennium and TheNew10s have served to make this a ForgottenTrope. The rise of the internet coincided with declining sales for comic books and children's magazines. Online retailers like Amazon saw a meteoric rise, while former mail-order giants like Sears and Montgomery Ward floundered and died. The 2008 recession drove businesses to embrace online retail as a cost-saving measure, which consumers also found quicker and more convenient than mail-ordering. As the web became more and more of a lucrative market for both advertising and sales, print media became less so. [=SkyMall=] folded in 2015, and the high-end novelty retailers like Hammacher Schlemmer shifted to fully digital storefronts.

* In the indie limited series ''ComicBook/{{Specs}}'', two teenage male friends (one white, one black) order a pair of "Gamma Ray Magic Specs" they saw in a comic book ad, which supposedly has the ability to grant the wearer's wishes. One of the friends wishes the other wins in a baseball game, but things get a turn for the worse when they are assaulted by their bully and they wish for him to be gone. The bully's disappearance shakes the small town community, and the black friend is wrongly blamed, although later acquitted. The white friend, meanwhile, tries to locate the glasses' manufacturers, and makes his way to an abandoned factory. The glasses are indeed wish-granting, and its previous owner was a lonely teenage girl who wished on prom night that people would never forget her. The glasses granted her that wish, [[JackassGenie but not in the way she wanted]]: her boyfriend drowned her in a pond, and her body wasn't found until a week later. Her hometown [[ExactWords certainly didn't forget her]] after that...

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': One plot arc has Calvin gorge himself on Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bomb cereal to collect enough [[CompetitionCouponMadness proof-of-purchase seals]] to order a propeller beanie, believing it to be a real HatOfFlight. When he finally gets it, his test flight is an immediate disappointment, so he tosses it aside and happily [[KidsPreferBoxes plays with the box instead]].

(Indices: MailAndDeliveryTropes, AdvertisingTropes, MistruthinMarketing, ComicBookTropes, PrintMediaTropes, TheCon)