Billy Mays is still shouting at me from my TV. (There was a thread asking who Billy Mays is and why he’s shouting a while ago, but I never got round to reading it. I haven’t searched for it yet.)
This time it’s a little electric trimmer. With the grooming kit, he claims that it’s a $70 value – yours for only $14.99. Does anyone really believe this?
What’s ‘value’ anyway? This is my take: ‘Value’ is determined by how much someone is willing to pay for an item, or how much other people have been willing to pay for a similar item. If this shaving kit is selling for $14.99, then I doubt anyone would buy one of the same quality for $70. Thus, the ‘value’ is $14.99; not $70.
I worked in a ski shop. We marked everything up 100%. Let’s assume that Billy Mays does the same. Billy’s cost would be $7.50. So while the retail ‘value’ would be $15, a ‘smart shopper’ might find one elsewhere for less.
Anyway, IMO these TV pitchmen are pulling ‘retail values’ out of their arses.
The disconnect with Billy Mays for me has always been why does a guy that looks like he ought to be drinking beer on a bass boat give a shit what kind of laundry detergent I use? He just doesn’t look like someone that would be troubled by stains.
Just got back from lunch and heard a guy on a radio ad pitching his get rich quick scheme. He said if you go to his web site and sign up he will send you his book and dvd “a hundred dollar value” absolutely free.
It’s his own book and dvd, he’s self valued it at $100, and now he’s giving it away?
While I doubt this is the case for shouting infomercial drones, you could argue that if similar products had always been available at $70, and this was the first new product to exploit [revolutionary new technique] and was available at $15, that it was a $70 value.
However, this would only be true until the new $15 version became the standard.
So there you go, folks. You get the turnip twaddler and the steak knives, all for one incredibly low price. What do you think of that?
Okay, let’s sweeten the deal. If you don’t like the turnip twaddler, return it and keep the steak knives as our gift to you! Now what would you say?
And if you call in the next ten minutes, we’ll double your order! That’s right, two turnip twaddlers for the price of one. You can’t beat that value!
But wait, there’s more! We’ll include this Turnip Twaddler cookbook and a specially-crafted bowl for the twaddlings. That’s two turnip twaddlers, the cookbook, the bowl, and the steak knives–a $70 value–for just $14.99! How’s that for a deal?
sigh Just call and have your credit card ready, okay?
Sorry, folks. It just occurred to me as I read through the thread that just as television pitchmen like Billy Mays are constantly upping the deal through the infomercial, so are the posters here one-upping each other as the thread has grown. Sorry if I offended anybody, but it made me smile.
Not offended at all Spoons. I was very aware of the ‘one-upping’ going on and deliberately added to it. Now the next time someone wants to start talking about what they went through to get to school, I’ll be sure to tell you about walking through 3’ of snow, uphill both ways, fighting off wolves with my bare hands because we couldn’t afford a stick.
So as to not hijack this thread, any more than I already have, I started [thread=331787]this new one[/thread] talking about the reasons for the insane markup on Inositol powder.
