History Main / TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket

** They also parodied the concept in the video [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/180/EZ-Industries EZ Industries]] (pronounced [[CanadaEh "E-Zed"]] of course). The advert actor tries to open a milk carton without the aid of the EZ Milk Spout and is [[RefugeInAudacity promptly murdered by a ninja]].

* Parodied in an infomercial featuring Dr. Nick and Troy [=McClure=] from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', which opens with Troy demonstrating a juicer by first awkwardly squeezing an orange against his forehead for a few seconds before telling his audience that "Until now, this was the only way to get juice from an orange." Immediate cut to Homer who is, of course, in the middle of actually making [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike juice this way]].
--> '''Homer''': You mean there's a ''better'' way?!
** Then he demonstrates said juicer, which Dr. Nick shouts is "WHISPER QUIET" and acts incredulous at the fact that only one drop comes out of the machine. "You got all that from one bag of oranges?"

There are people in this world who take incompetence to an art form. You know who we're talking about: people who cannot be trusted to use scissors, cut themselves to ribbons when they try to use a potato peeler, and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin cannot even use a blanket without help]]. How can such utterly incompetent people make a living in this world?

* The ''Website/CollegeHumor'' staff knows [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb_GNzfEBKI what kind of person needs infomercial products]] with the "Has this ever happened to you?" opening tagline.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoChinatownWars'', the molotov cocktail preparation minigame at gas stations suggests that Huang Lee would be a great candidate if there was ever an infomercial for people who can't efficiently pour gasoline into their gas tank.

## [[MyCarHatesMe He is unable to start his car because the battery has died.]] When a little kid comes up to him, he rolls down both windows on the driver's side of the car. They ask him, "How many times has this happened to you?" He says "Happens to me every fucking day. Every day."

* A source for many instances of YoutubePoop. For example [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IEmP2EYuOw Introducing the Shiddy Bear]] by WebAnimation/WalrusGuy.

* ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'', where Gandhi and Abe advertise their [[{{spork}} knork]] by having Abe dress up as an old lady who complained that she could barely walk because of the difficulty of using two utensils at the same time.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'', [[ButtMonkey O'Farrell]] is described as "Isn't trained to use a stapler" when Fillmore assigned him as a bodyguard.
-->'''Vallejo:''' Fillmore! O'Farrell isn't trained to use a ''stapler'', let alone '''''bodyguard''''' somebody!
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The commercial for the Huggy Wuvvy Tummy Bundle baby carrier begins with a man trying to eat pizza while holding a baby under his arm like a football as a voice says, "Hey, you! Sick of constantly dropping your baby?"
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' episode "Send in the Clones", Penfold is watching TV when an ad comes on for "Soup Funnel", a product for people too lazy or uncoordinated to use a soup spoon. (You stick the funnel in your mouth and pour the soup in. Hard to imagine how that could go wrong.)

* In ''Film/{{Airplane}}'', Ted Striker has a drinking problem: he always [[ExactWords misses his mouth]].

* Conversed in the ''WebVideo/YourMovieSucksDotOrg'' review of Neil Breen's films, which compares the clumsiness in the films to the clumsiness in infomercials. It even uses film clips to make a parody infomercial.

## [[MyCarHatesMe He is unable to start his car because the battery has died.]] When a little girl comes up to him, he rolls down both windows on the driver's side of the car. She asks him, "How many times has this happened to you?" He says "Happens to me every fucking day. Every day."

Let's face it, this could be TruthInTelevision for some products and indeed, some users. In reality, however, many of these products were invented specifically for the elderly and physically disabled, people who legitimately ''could'' have problems with some of these tasks; the "being too incompetent to use it" factor usually arises when the item is marketed to a general audience (needed in order to secure a big enough market to make the product profitable) and it becomes necessary to convince able-bodied people that ''they'' can't live without these products. So instead of showing the situations where the item could actually be useful, advertisements depict youngish adult actors of sound mind and body acting completely goofy...and inadvertently casting a negative light on the people who might have a legitimate need for the product.

Sometimes goes hand-in-hand with ThePowerOfCheese, which is people acting incredibly stupid due to desire for the product being advertised instead of as a "demonstration" of a competitor. Related to BrandX, CableSatelliteMudslinging, and SideBySideDemonstration. May be used to cover up a NeverNeedsSharpening flaw. Basically DisastrousDemonstration invoked for marketing purposes. Compare DeceptivelySimpleDemonstration, where the product is being used in a way that looks harder than it really is. It doesn't help that with few exceptions infomercial products are low-quality examples of their product type being pushed at a markup.

* The ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip [[http://www.xkcd.com/1567/ Kitchen Tips]] isn't selling anything, but still fully embodies the trope.

* Infamously - nay, ''Legendarily'' - Inverted in the second episode of ''Series/TheITCrowd'', wherein an advert ("Has This Ever Happened To You") depicts an elderly woman falling down some stairs, [[MadeOfIron getting right back up with no problems]], and then falling down some more. But before she can dial up Emergency Services, the ad cuts in with how, as part of a general improvement, they've changed the number - it's no longer 999[[note]]The show takes place and is shown in the UK, but perhaps mindful of US viewers Roy later mentions '911', which Moss corrects[[/note]], but (*''jingle''*) 0118 999 881 999 119 725...
** ...3. ("Hello, I've had a bit of a tumble.")

->''"First, there is the sequence where someone is shown trying to unsuccessfully impale the cap of a normal pen, which suggests not only a lack of familiarity with pens, but also the visual-spatial reasoning ability of a pot-smoking chimp."''

** One episode features [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRntutn8udw Mayostard,]] a bottled mayonnaise-and-mustard combo, and goes to absurd lengths to suggest that getting sandwich spreads from two different bottles is an unbearable waste of time and effort.[[note]]Estimated time savings: 5 minutes over 30 years[[/note]] Then a competing product, Mustardayonnaise, enters the picture. Then the post-credits gag introduces [[SerialEscalation Mustmayostardayonnaise]], because having to apply Mayostard and Mustardayonnaise is such an enormous time sink, it will cause you to miss your daughter growing up, graduating college, and then [[MindScrew growing older than you and dying.]][[note]]Warning: Mayostard will expire before mustardayonnaise[[/note]]

* ''Series/PicnicFace'' featured a segment called "Infomercial Plus" - an infomercial actor agency that offers people Too Incompetent To Operate A Blanket in real life to make your infomercial even better! Highlights included a literal blanket-operating failure, a man unable to comprehend fruit and another utterly incapable of cracking eggs.

* In [[https://youtu.be/6ZwrDM3vXtw this clip]] from ''Dave Gorman's Terms and Conditions Apply'', Dave shows and discusses adverts which portray people as being too incompetent to crack an egg, cook pasta and carry kitchen utensils, and has his guests create a spoof ad for an extendable shoehorn for people who struggle to put on and take off their shoes.

* 5-Minute Crafts and other life hack channels play this straight in their videos. Often the channel will set up a hack by showing an actor hopelessly fumble with the normal way of doing something, but immediately know how to use the unconventional and often impractical hacked method. One sketch shows a woman give up at scooping pickled eggs out of a jar because her spoon's too short, then decide to use two spoons tied together to reach the eggs (when it would be easier to just tilt the jar).

## Depressed, he sits down on his bed and [[DrivenToSuicide puts a gun to his head to kill himself]], but when he pulls the trigger, it clicks empty, informercial music starts playing, an X is emblazoned on the screen, and an announcer shouts, "ARE YOU TIRED OF UNRELIABLE GUNS?!" revealing that what we saw was the lead-in to another infomercial.
* ''WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun'' did a sketch about [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/433/Has-This-Ever-Happened-To-You this,]] with a man who actually lives in an informercial.
** They also parodied the concept in the video [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/180/EZ-Industries EZ Industries]] (pronounced [[CanadaEh "E-Zed"]] of course). The advert actor tries to open a milk carton without the aid of the EZ Milk Spout, and is [[RefugeInAudacity promptly murdered by a ninja]].

* Parodied by Smosh in the informercial for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q5uoEU8RRk Easy Step.]] The opening shows Anthony ''struggling to climb steps''.

** A Spray (pronounced as Aspray since the commerical left no space between the A and S)

* Conversed in the ''WebVideo/YourMovieSucksDotOrg'' review of Neil Breen's films, which compares the clumsiness in the films to the clumsiness in informercials. It even uses film clips to make a parody informercial.

** ''Basics With Babish'' parodies this in the "[[https://youtu.be/xSjVrR7KPqA?t=117 Kitchen Care]]" episode with Babish failing to slice a piece of paper to demonstrate how dull his kitchen knife is, before the footage turns black and white as he resorts to trying a bunch of nonsensical ways to sharpen it like blowtorching it, pouring a can of beer on it, seasoning it with salt and pepper, and giving it money.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHgM3abfa1M commercial]] ''Webvideo/{{Tobuscus}}'' made for Hot Pockets features a man too incompetent to barbecue hotdogs. At first he struggles to open the packaging, trying and failing with his hands and teeth, stabbing himself through the hand when he tries using a knife, and resorts to blasting the packaging open with a shotgun. Then he drops the hotdogs through the gaps in the grill, knocks the barbecue into the pool and takes a shrapnel wound when a propane tank explodes. Later in the commercial, another character claims that the last time he tried to make chilli dogs, he accidentally started a war in Chile.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUNYDK2XTiY This video]] takes a look at several products advertised through infomercials in this manner and pointing out the flaws inherent in taking devices that, at best, were designed for the elderly and disabled, then advertising them in a way as if able-bodied 20- and 30-somethings needed them just as much.

* [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2407 SCP-2407]] is a cognitohazard that renders victims Too Incompetent To Operate A Blanket in ways that are temporarily relieved by the purchase and use of infomercial products. [[spoiler: The Foundation suspects that infomercials and related products are being used to spread the cognitohazard.]]

* ''[[WebVideo/BingingWithBabish Basics With Babish]]'' parodies this in the [[https://youtu.be/xSjVrR7KPqA?t=117 Kitchen Care]] episode with Babish failing to slice a piece of paper to demonstrate how dull his kitchen knife is, before the footage turns black and white as he resorts to trying a bunch of nonsensical ways to sharpen it like blowtorching it, pouring a can of beer on it, seasoning it with salt and pepper, and giving it money.
---> '''Babish:''' You tried everything! Why can't your knife just be sharp? Why can't life just be easier when it's hard? Stop throwing money away, [[BuffySpeak or, something]], and get yourself a... [[StatingTheSimpleSolution knife sharpener like this one.]]

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in the Bounty-sponsored episodes of ''WebVideo/BingingWithBabish'': at the beginning of the episode, Babish will deliberately make a mess in some completely improbable way just to have an excuse to demonstrate the sponsor's cleaning ability.

* A source for many instances of WebAnimation/YoutubePoop. For example [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IEmP2EYuOw Introducing the Shiddy Bear]] by WebAnimation/WalrusGuy.