Michael I am really open-minded when it comes to new products and usually buy anything that sounds even remotely interesting. I'm also happy to try a revolutionary new cleaning product, but I haven't been able to bring myself to buy the outrageously overpriced cleaning cloth "Shamwow," a product supposedly from Germany.
On The Amazing Abilities of the Shamwow Cleaning Cloth you can even marvel at it in a YouTube video, and I must say that the presentation by this hustling sales guy, called a "Pitchman," is really convincing. The main problem with the miracle cleaning cloth is the price. At Costco, a bulk pack costs just under thirty dollars. I think that's a bit excessive for a cleaning cloth. Other Costco customers seem to share the same opinion, as the Shamwow boxes are sitting like lead on the shelves.
By the way, a new series is currently running on television. It's called "Pitchmen" and follows two of the most well-known infomercial presenters, Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan, at their work. Billy Mays is the guy with the black beard who always shouts as if he has a hearing impairment. One of the products he is currently promoting is, for example, the "Slider Station" In the show "Pitchmen," which comes across as an entertaining documentary, you see the two pitchmen with the powerful boss of the infomercial empire. This boss films the promotional spots with the pitchmen, buys blocks of advertising time by the hour, and floods the TV audience with the commercials. The trick is always the same: the product costs around $20, but today it's only $14.99, and not just for one item. If you call within the next five minutes, you get two, and there's also a small keychain included! "But that's not all!" the pitchman then exclaims and adds something extra.
In the show, inventors with their inventions on a tray come to the advertising boss with the pitchmen, who then debate whether the stuff can be profitably sold. I really liked the first few episodes; conceptually, it's a kind of The Deadliest Catch, a reality docuseries that has been running successfully for a while. Let's hope that the Pitchmen team manages to produce more interesting episodes before the series is canceled in the ruthless American television market due to low ratings.
Editorial note: On June 28, 2009, about four weeks after publication of the article, Billy Mays passed away unexpectedly due to a heart attack, and the continuation of the series is now questionable.