THE TUBE
You turn on the TV, and there’s Ali MacGraw or Meredith Baxter Birney, talking in their best close-personal-friend voices about makeup tips. But they’re not just suggesting that smoky topaz eye shadow, they’re selling it.
Welcome to the world of infomercials. Thanks to Federal Communications Commission deregulation, those 30-minute spots that look like talk shows but are really commercials for things such as makeup and cookie diets now appear on 2,000 TV stations. It’s a multibillion-dollar industry. If you don’t believe us, just ask Mickey Rooney, host of “Success Is How You Act.” Hey, kids, let’s put on a commercial.
How could such a phenomenon be so successful? A press release from Santa Monica’s infomercialmeisters, Sergio & Spiegel Television Inc., explains. The key to keeping people from zapping Lyle Waggoner and his tooth whitener is “to advertise products that fall into four basic categories: vanity, greed, household goods and fear of God.”
Can’t get any more basic than that. Wonder if they’ve talked to Charleton Heston yet.
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