For that matter, has anyone ever bought anything directly as a result of seeing it advertised on an informercial? Was the product as good as it was as advertised to be? Otherwise, are informercials just programming filler for people nursing hangovers at 3:00 AM since there’s nothing else to watch at that hour? I can’t imagine anyone purposely watching an informercial the way most of us watch regular programs.
For the mods, if this thread is better suited for IMHO, please feel free to move it.
I used to enjoy watching “Amazing Discoveries” back in the early-1990s. I also used to watch Harry Lorainne (sp?) hawk his amazing memory system.
What can I say except the weed was gooooood. 
Supposedly six million suckers, I mean people, have purchased Kevin Trudeau’s books, and infomercials are the only way he advertises, so I would say yes, many people do watch and buy- I watch his, only becasue I find his particular brand of bullshit fascinating.
I like to watch infomercials for workout programs and equipment. There’s a lot of hot sexy bodies in there…my current favorite is P90X.
As for buying stuff because of an infomercial…not yet, but if I had more disposable income I bet I would. I’ve been eyeballing one of the super duper knife sets!
I’ve never bought anything from an infomercial, but I will admit to being drawn hypnotically to them. Everything just looks so… usefull.
One late night I sat through an infomercial for 50’s and 60’s music. Bobby Rydell was hosting, and talking to people my age who remembered the music.
They were in a “malt shop”. Were malt shops called malt shops? I’ve eaten in places that served malts and shakes, but we never called it the malt shop. It was the “hamburger joint” or the “coffee shop” or the Mello-Maid.
I didn’t buy the CDs though. I have most of those songs on 45’s. 
I don’t watch them much anymore, but I used to have them on for noise when I was up late and didn’t have cable.
I have never “called the number on the screen” but I will admit that I started using Proactiv because of seeing its infomercial.
And I’m glad I did, because I went from a nasty “beard” of red lumpy nasty zits to the clear skin I now have. I only used the stuff for 6 months to a year but it did what it said it would do.
Every now and then I enjoy an infomercial, especially kitchen-themed infomercials for blenders, grills, and rotisseries. Although I have no intention of buying the product that the informercial is hawking, I get ideas that are adaptable for use with other appliances that I already own.
Occasionally I’ve also enjoyed infomercials for beauty products. I don’t even use makeup anymore (except for lip gloss), and I don’t do a thing with my hair except wash it and condition it. But, for reasons unknown, I can find entertainment value in watching makeup and hair programs.
As mentioned by Auntie Pam, some of the oldies music infomercials are quite watchable. I’ve never bought any of the CDs, though. Come to think of it, I cannot recall ever having bought anything from an infomercial, with one exception: I bought a floor-cleaning thing that was like a giant squeegee. It worked well, until the handle broke.
I’m not sure it could be called ‘watching’ them so much as ‘having left the TV on while doing other things and they magically appeared’. It’s amazing how attractive things can seem in an infomercial. I’ve never bought anything, but I’m frequently tempted, especially by the kitchen gadgets.
I’ve bought a couple of the kitchen gadgets, except I bought them from Target or Bed Bath and Beyond instead of the infomercial, because the shipping and handling is such a ripoff. (I think I even saw a store in the mall called “As Seen On TV” and containing many products so advertised.)
I LOVE infomercials. I’ve never bought anything, but they are sometimes more entertaining than most shows on TV, especially when they feature a really kooky personality.
I used to love watching Susan Powter’s Stop the Insanity! 'mercials in the 90s. There was also a hair-care system that had a great infomercial featuring Cher…I can’t remember the name of the company, but it got parodied on Saturday Night Live. Good stuff.
I love infomercials (especially for kitchen gadgets) but I never buy the things they advertise. If I wait 6 months they show up in stores around me so there is no point in buying them while they are more expensive and will take 6 weeks to arrive anyhow. I really enjoy watching them though…I can’t explain why but they are awesome.
I guess it didn’t work, although the weed *was * gooooood
I’ve stuck around for the Showtime Knives (I think there is more than 1 infomercial for these) one, and that “Magic Bullet” thingy.
I occasionally watch, I seldom buy. I have purchased the Magic Bullet mixer and really like it. Of course, I only use it to mix protein drinks, but it is very nice for that.
Ah, yes, the Lori Davis hair care product line. This was doubly bizarre: Lori Davis herself was a dumpy, lumpy, not-very-attractive woman, and Cher is famous for wearing wigs. A friend of mine bought a bunch of the Lori Davis stuff, and she loved it, but it was overpriced, like most infomercial beauty products.
Yes! And of course Chris Farley played Lori Davis in the SNL parody.
I was gonna just say that they’re the same people who reply to spam, but then I remembered I used to like watching the T-Fal teflon pans one with Chef Crowley. I also used to watch the very first ones in the early 80s, just to see what the hell they were. Back then they were all for home study courses on how to make money in real estate (anyone remember Ed Beckly, Carlton Sheets?)
People who actually buy from them, they’re the ones answering spam… 
I used to work in (outsourced) support for infomercial products. They sell surprisingly well, and the product samples I had left over after I quit sold incredibly well on eBay. The products range from good to bad, but generally are not worth the price; the cost of the format is quite high so generally there is some catch (i.e. recurring shipments, shoddy merchandise, terrible customer service, overpriced compared with other products of the same type, high shipping costs, “free” items costing additional shipping, or all of the above).
We worked for one of the “good” companies, the products were generally good with a few meh ones. There’s a few I like and use, but wouldn’t have paid for; they were ridiculously overpriced.
If you’re tempted to buy, do about 5 minutes of research online; 99% of the time you’ll be swayed into not buying. I always think those knife sets look awesome but the feedback online is horrible. Beware of most “lifetime guarantees” as you will be stuck paying shipping, usually outlandishly high.
I’ve never purchased anything I’ve seen on an informercial. However, I have watched a couple. I don’t watch infomercials for exercise equipment because it looks like it would never work. I did however watch the infomercial for “Yoga Booty Ballet,” if just for the eye candy.
However, I do enjoy the infomercial featuring the two guys from Air Supply hawking song collections from the 70s and 80s. It’s amazing to me when they show the footage of some of the singers from that era and how nerdy and geeky (or butt ugly) they looked yet they had hit songs. I suppose the onset of MTV and music videos changed all that.
I ordered a set of CDs once several years ago (greatest dance hits megamixes or some damn thing like that) which, if I’d seen in a store, would’ve bought anyway. That’s the only thing I’ve ever bought from an infomercial. I have bought a few things off home shopping, though, because it happened to catch my eye as I was channel surfing. None of the home shopping channels are on my favorite channels now so it’s been well over a decade. I agree that the one for the Magic Bullet is fascinating and if I had less sales resistance I’d probably have one by now.
There were a coupld of regular late night commercials from, wow, before I moved to Madison so 15 years ago and more that weren’t infomercials but played so often during commercial breaks they might as well have been. One was for a CD of new agey music, lots of Enya and those monks (Mystic Voices maybe?) that was perfectly cut together so that the song snippets formed a great song. I mighta bought it if the advert remix had been on it. The other was for a Time Life wildlife video series. The advertised one was “Predators” and the commercial featured a shark chasing down a sea bird that was trying to back away and fight it off and it was about the coolest thing ever. I wanted the tape just to find out what happened to the bird. I still wonder about that bird sometimes.