Billy Mays: the art of the sale
Why the late iconic TV “infomercial king” could sell us anything
Billy Mays: death of an infomercial king
(Wikipedia Commons/Sharese Ann Frederick)
Billy Mays “represented everything Americans say we don’t like about salesmen,” said David Hinckley in the New York Daily News. Before his “sudden and shocking” death Sunday, at age 50, he was master of the “if you don’t buy this, you’re an idiot” hard sell, the “television incarnation of a medicine-show quack.” But he became the “dominant brand” in TV sales—more famous than anything he ever sold—because he knew his product, and his audience.
His core audience was insomniacs, said Andrew Malcolm in the Los Angeles Times, and even sleepless viewers “with graduate degrees would find themselves grabbing their credit card” when he gave that “old thumbs up sign of Mays approval.” And that was his trick: he was real, and he really wouldn’t sell anything that didn’t work, that he didn’t use at home himself. (Watch Mays poke fun at himself at the drive-thru)
He was also growing an “unlikely fanbase” through his Discovery Channel reality show, “Pitchmen,” said Kim LaCapria in The Inquisitr. As to how he died, it’s too early to say, although he did suffer a blow to the head from a hard landing at the Tampa airport Saturday. He joked he had a “hard head.”
Mays was “as down to earth as could be,” said Darren Rovell in CNBC, but the “Infomercial king” also “generated billions of dollars in business.” He really was that good, and companies paid him accordingly. As a salesman, he managed the “impossible”—”he got us to buy something we sometimes never heard of in 30 seconds time.” As Mays loved saying, “Life is a pitch and then you buy it.”
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7 Comments
Posted by carlyt, Monday, June 29, 2009, 12:56 pm How did they get autopsy results that quick on Mays but not Jackson? related post at iamsoannoyed.com/?p1977
Posted by Slum Dawg, Monday, June 29, 2009, 1:57 pm Are you kidding? Jackson still had little boy residue all over him, that makes testing more difficult.
Posted by sam, Monday, June 29, 2009, 4:14 pm they did NOT get his autopsy yet. he got a severe bump on his head, felt ill, went to sleep and died. just like Natasha Richardson ... hard bumps on the head should be looked at by a doctor every time.Is anyone looking into the number of AIRBUS planes that have experienced bad turbulance and troubles????
Posted by Aaron, Monday, June 29, 2009, 8:01 pm I read Vince Offer, the ShamWow pitchman was brought in for questioning....
Posted by Michael J. Gorman, Monday, June 29, 2009, 8:41 pm Billy Mays could entertain anyone and make you feel like life was worth living even if it only meant a happier cleaning moment! He was a fun guy more than just a salesman. Of course he tried to sell oxyclean and other stuff, but mainly he sold himself. The only mystery about him is how the doctors didn't see a heart problem as they prepared to do a him replacement on him.
Posted by theodore kurrus, Monday, June 29, 2009, 11:35 pm You call Billy Mays the iconic TV infomercial king! Who are you trying to kid? Mays was nothing more than a back alley huckster. A hawker. A second rate peddler. A snake oil salesman. And, in my opinion, a colossal irritant. Each time I was unfortunate enough to find his hirsute visage bellowing at me though my TV, I either switched channels or, more often, simply turned off the volume. If his passing will insure a little more civility in this world, good on it. And may God bless his soul.
Posted by zack, Thursday, July 2, 2009, 4:13 am theodore you are the worse kind of person you should have died instead of a saint like billy mays he was the infomercial king he wasnt some fake personality like most salesmen he was 1ooo real thats why people loved him i for one can say that its never going to be the same without hearing billy mays voice or seeing him in his blue shirt and khakis rest in piece billy mays you will be truly missed
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