Friday, January 9, 2009

Ripped from Informercials: Spam

So, I'm listening to this story on NPR yesterday and the CEO of the company that brings you the Sham-Wow, Pedi-Paws, Ped Egg, and other cruft for $19.95 was on.  I rarely watch commercials anymore because I don't watch live TV and skip through them.  So why is it that I know of so many TeleBrands products? -- Spam.

That's right.  I have noticed a huge volume of spam for the stupid fscking Pedi-Paws (which sounds like it sucks, BTW).  Now I find out that it's an infomercial-peddled product.  And, I recently started getting Sham-Wow spam.  (aside:  I hate that commercial.  Makes me think I'm at the Puyallup Fair or something.  Also, do they always have to be a horrid Orange color?  Yeah, I'm going to use an ORANGE bath mat.)

It makes me wonder whether the company behind the TV advertising of the products is in some way behind the spam campaigns for its products as well?  Each of the emails I've received have different links at different sites embedded for "unsubscribing".  Most are .info domains.  But the links that do work redirect you to order sites under www.officialtvwebsite822.com  Could simply be a way of phishing since to order you have to give your credit card number, name and address.
Infomercials Thrive Amid Downturn : NPR
A downturn in the economy has provided a boom for infomercials. A.J. Khubani, president and CEO of the direct response company TeleBrands, says his company has seen that business booms in bad economic times. He attributes the success to lower TV ad rates.
And just for fun, some reviews of some of the peddled products:

Top 5 Worst Telebrands Products « Just Pazz…


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