Christopher J. Tennyson

Lamenting the Passing of Infomercial Pioneer Ron Popeil

Innovative TV Pitchman Sold Billions of Dollars of Quirky Convenience Products Over Six Decades

7/29/21 – – I will be observing a moment of silence today in memory of legendary TV pitchman Ron Popeil.

The creator of such must-have products as the Veg-O-Matic (it slices and dices), Hair in a Can (essentially spray paint to cover a bald spot), Pocket Fisherman (lets you go fishing on impulse anytime, anywhere), Mr. Microphone (karaoke on the cheap) and the Inside-the-Eggshell Egg Scrambler (I’m not making this up) died yesterday at age 86.

When it comes to innovation, he may not be in a league with Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison, but Popeil gave us the infomercial, paved the way for QVC and the Home Shopping Network, and coined such iconic marketing phrases as “But wait . . . there’s more!” and “The babes are back!”

The biography on Popeil’s official website claims that, “Ron has been on more television channels for more hours in more markets than virtually all other celebrities in American television history.” His distinctive rapid-fire pitch style has been hilariously parodied by Dan Aykroyd (Bass-O-Matic on Saturday Night Live) and Johnny Carson (Dickie-the-Stick). His quirky Ronco company products, having generated billions of dollars in sales over the last six decades, can still be purchased on Amazon.com.

It was Popeil’s Ronco Records that produced those unforgettable long-play TV commercials for what were known as “compilation albums,” featuring fast on-screen scrolling of song titles and artists’ names over short sound bites from the assembled recordings. The hypnotic spots, urging viewers to “act now,” usually played late at night when advertising rates were low and potential buyers most vulnerable.

I don’t know about you, but Ron Popeil’s passing makes me long for a simpler time, before sanctimonious online influencers, fancy Cuisinart food processors and the Hair Club for Men. The likeable, entertaining, apolitical pitchman will be missed.

So, in loving memory of Mr. Popeil, consider contributing $99.00 to a charity of your choice. I’m sure if you act now, they’ll be happy to accept three easy monthly payments of just $33.00!

 http://www.ronpopeil.com/

Published by Christopher J. Tennyson

Christopher Tennyson brings more than 35 years of experience in major agency and corporate environments to his work as a senior communications and crisis management consultant. He has advised a broad range of high-profile companies, institutions and individuals in diverse industries, including real estate, retailing, consumer products, energy, education, art, sports and finance. Tennyson served as senior vice president and senior partner at the international public relations firm FleishmanHillard (FH), heading the New York Corporate and Public Affairs Group. His FH crisis team won the 2008 Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil for best crisis communications program, supporting a major food product recall. Prior to joining FH, Tennyson was a principal in the Michigan-based public relations firm Seyferth, Spaulding, Tennyson, and served as senior vice president, corporate affairs, for The Taubman Company, whose interests included the international art auction house Sotheby’s (NYSE:BID), the Woodward and Lothrop and John Wanamaker department store chains, A&W Restaurants, the Michigan Panthers of the U.S. Football League and Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO), a leading retail real estate developer and manager. Tennyson began his communications counseling career with the international public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, advancing from copywriter to vice president and director of the agency’s Issues and Corporate Advertising Unit in the New York office. A graduate of Syracuse University, Tennyson has been a visiting lecturer on leadership and crisis communications at the Wharton School and an adjunct professor at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. He is co-author of “Driving Crisis Communications in a 24/7 Digital World,” featured in the PR News Crisis Management Guidebook, Vol. 3. Tennyson also co-authored entrepreneur Alfred Taubman’s New York Times best-selling memoir, “Threshold Resistance – The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer,” published in 2007 by Harper Collins.

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