This could be you! (If you keep reading this article.)
Pssst… Pull up a chair and I’ll fill you in on a dirty little secret that every single person in the world already knows: infomercials sometimes embellish the truth.
Sometimes they even flat-out lie.
They do this because they prey on the dumb. They prey on the emotionally weak. If they can generate an emotional response in viewers — usually a feeling of frustration and “I’ve been there, too!” — it gives them the best chance of actually making a sale.
So infomercials exaggerate. They make small problems seem bigger than they really are, positioning the product they’re selling as the solution to these supposedly awful problems.
And they generally don’t shell out for A-list (or even J-list) actors, so these exaggerations often come off looking pretty ridiculous. Without context (like an omnipresent voice saying “How many times has this happened to you?” and then showing you the product you need), they create scenes of sheer insanity and idiocy.
Below, we’ve collected our 15 favorite scenes of bad infomercial actors looking like total maniacs and/or buffoons. Enjoy.
(Tip of the hat to the Reddit users over in r/wheredidthesodago, who unearthed most of these gems.)
15. “This radiator cap is too damn tight!”
14. “Wait… what the hell is in my teeth?!”
13. “How does eating work, again?”
12. “Why won’t these slip-on shoes just slip off?”
11. “Put the bowl down? What do you mean, put the bowl down?”
10. “Nooo! What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO?”
9. “It happened again. I forgot how to use my hands.”
8. “How many more frying pans am I going to lose this way? It’s costing me a fortune!”
7. “I just can’t wrap my head around how lids work!”
6. “Not the sun! That’s the last thing I expected on this sunny afternoon stroll.”
5. “Cutting sandwiches is just so darn complicated!”
4. “It’s time to wash the car. Just let me grab every single item I own, plus several buckets of water.”
3. “This is the last time I bar-b-que on the side of a mountain!”
2. “Measure the window? What am I, a rocket scientist?”
1. “Damn it! Every single time I try to get something out of the cupboard!”
