From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ronald M. Popeil (born May 3, 1935 in New York City;
pronounced /poʊˈpiːl/[1]) is
an American inventor
and marketing
personality, best known for his direct response marketing company Ronco. He is well known for his
appearances in infomercials for the Showtime Rotisserie
("Set it, and forget it!") and for using Ed Valenti's (Ginsu knife creator) famous
lines, "But wait, there's more!" and "Now how much would
you pay?" Each phrase followed the addition of another item or
feature to the catalog of a product's advantages or attachments.
The advertisements frequently answered the "how much?" question
with potential prices, followed by the dramatically lower actual
price, which was also a Valenti creation.
Personal life and career
Popeil learned his trade from his father, Samuel, who was also
an inventor and carny salesman
of kitchen-related gadgets
such as the Chop-O-Matic and the Veg-O-Matic. The Chop-O-Matic retailed for
US$3.98 and sold over two million
units. The invention of
the Chop-O-Matic caused a problem that marked the entrance of Ron
Popeil into television. It turned out that the Chop-O-Matic was so
efficient at chopping vegetables, that it was impractical for
salesmen to carry the vegetables they needed to chop. The solution
was to tape the demonstration. Once the demonstration was taped, it
was a short step to broadcasting the demonstration as a commercial.
Popeil received the Ig Nobel Prize in Consumer Engineering
in 1993. The awards committee described him as the "incessant inventor
and perpetual pitchman of late night
television"[2] and
awarded the prize in recognition of his "redefining the industrial
revolution" with his devices.
In August 2005, he sold his company, Ronco, to Fi-Tek VII, a
Denver holding
company, for US$55 million. He said he plans to continue
serving as the spokesman
and inventor, but wants to spend more time with
his family. As of 2006, he lives in Beverly Hills, California,
with his wife, Robin Popeil and 2 of his 5 daughters; Ashley Tisdale is
his cousin.[3]
Inventions
Some of his better-known products, and their original sale
pitches, include:
- Chop-O-Matic hand food processor. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm
going to show you the greatest kitchen appliance ever made... All
your onions chopped to perfection without shedding a single
tear."
- Dial-O-Matic, successor to the Veg-O-Matic. "Slice a tomato so
thin it only has one side."
- Popeil Pocket Fisherman. "The biggest fishing invention since
the hook...and still only $19.95!" (According to the program Biography, the original
product was the invention of Popeil's father and only
marketed by Ronco, but as of 2006, Popeil had introduced a
redesigned version of the product.)[4]
- Mr. Microphone, a short-range hand-held radio transmitter that
broadcast over FM radios. A convertible rolls up to a curb and an
enthusiastic young man shouts out "Hey, good looking, I'll be back
to pick you up later!" followed by the pitch "Broadcast your voice
on any FM radio!!!"
- Inside-The-Shell Egg Scrambler. "Gets rid of those slimy egg
whites in your scrambled eggs." Popeil has said the inspiration for
this product was his lifelong revulsion toward incompletely blended
scrambled eggs.[4]
- Six Star 20-Piece Cutlery Set.
- Solid Flavor Injector. This product accompanied the Showtime
rotisserie grill and was used to inject solid ingredients into meat
or other foods. A similar product, called the Liquid Flavor
Injector, allowed for the injecting of liquid ingredients into meat
(e.g., lime juice into chicken).
- GLH-9 Hair in a Can Spray (Great Looking Hair Formula #9).
- Drain Buster.
- Smokeless Ashtray - "Does cigar and cigarette smoke irritate
your eyes?" Commercials showed this device drawing smoke from
burning cigarettes back into the ashtray itself.
- Electric Food Dehydrator - "Instead of giving kids candy, give
them apple snacks or banana chips. And it's great if you're a
hunter, fisherman, backpacker, or camper. Makes beef jerky for
around $3 a pound, and you know what went in it, because you made
it yourself!"
- Ronco Popeil Automatic Pasta Maker.
- Showtime Rotisserie, a small rotisserie oven designed for cooking smaller
sized portions of meat such as whole chicken and lamb. "Set it, and
forget it!"
- The Cap Snaffler - "Snaffles caps off any size jug, bottle, or
jar… and it really, really works."
- The Showtime Six Star Plus 25 Knife Set and the Solid Flavor
Injector. "Three easy payments of $13.33!"
Impact
on popular culture
- "Weird Al" Yankovic
recorded the song "Mr. Popeil" on his second studio album, "Weird Al" Yankovic in
3-D. The song was a "style parody" (i.e., not a direct
parody of a specific song, but emulating a performer's specific
style) of the early music of the B-52's (and bore a
striking resemblance to their first hit single, "Rock Lobster"). The verses are structured
as pitches for unnamed but easily recognizable Ronco products, and
draws upon all the catchphrases associated with the Ronco
infomercials, including the phrases "It slices! It dices!", "Take
advantage of this amazing TV offer!", and Ed Valenti's more
commonly heard phrase"Now how much would you pay?". One of
Weird Al's background vocalists was Lisa Popeil, sister of Ron
Popeil[2]. This song is
actually a tribute to Samuel Popeil, Ron Popeil's father, who was
in the same business of inventing and selling products.[5]
- On his 1983 album, DaDa, Alice Cooper sings,
"I love General Patton in World War II, my Pocket Fisherman and my
Crazy Glue" in the song "I Love America".
- In the X-Files episode "Beyond the Sea," Scully is
shown sleeping while Ron Popeil touts the wonders of his Spray-On
Hair (Great Looking Hair Formula #9) for only $39.95. The ad
continues for a few seconds, displaying the product's fabulous
abilities before shifting to show Scully awakening to the ghost of
her recently deceased father.
- The "Veg-O-Matic" was parodied by Dan Aykroyd in an episode of Saturday
Night Live as the "Super Bass-O-Matic '76". This parody is
mentioned in the Biography episode on Popeil.
- The "Veg-O-Matic" provided the inspiration for the
"Sledge-O-Matic" routine used by comedian Gallagher since the
1980s.
- In the episode "A Big Piece of Garbage," from
the television series Futurama, Popeil is said to be the
inventor of technology that allows heads to be kept alive in
jars indefinitely (Popeil's own head, voiced by himself,
appears in the episode). In the later episode "The
Luck of the Fryrish" Fry keeps his lucky seven-leaf-clover in a
"Ronco Record Vault"
- In the episode "Won’t You Pimai Neighbor?,"
from the television series "King of the Hill," Dale Gribble states
that if Bobby Hill incorrectly chooses from among the items
possibly owned by the late Lama Sanglung, Bobby Hill will win a cap
snaffler and that the cap snaffler, "Snaffles caps of any size jug,
bottle or jar...and it really really works.".
- In the episode "The Perils of Polling" from the
television series "King of the Hill," Dale Gribble asks
if Hank got him a cap snaffler while Hank and Dale are being
escorted to the polling place by the police.
- In the episode of The Simpsons entitled "Radio Bart", Bart Simpson
receives a "Superstar Celebrity Microphone" for his birthday. The
toy and the TV advertisements for it were modeled after Ronco's
"Mr. Microphone".
- In the movie Old School during the morning-after
hangover scene, Ron Popeil is on the TV; Vince Vaughn and company are
watching.
- During a scene in Elizabethtown, you can see Popeil
showing his knives on Orlando Bloom's television. (Bloom's
character was having suicidal thoughts.)
- The Daily Show featured a clip with the famous
line "Set it and forget it!" — from the Showtime Rotisserie
commercial — after showing the "catch phrase" discussions of the
Senate debating over the War in Iraq.
- The Beastie
Boys reference him in their song 'Crawlspace', when Adrock says
"I got more product than Ron Popeil".
- In 1993, the Ig Nobel Award for Consumer Engineering was
presented to Ron Popeil, "incessant inventor and perpetual pitchman
of late night television, for redefining the industrial revolution
with such devices as the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, Mr.
Microphone, and the Inside-the-Shell Egg Scrambler."
- In "The Kingdom", Popeil is playing on the television while
Jamie Foxx is interviewing a family after the terrorist
attack.
- In the book "What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures", by Malcolm
Gladwell, Ron Popeil is interviewed and many of his products,
most notably the Veg-O-Matic and Showtime Rotisserie, are
discussed.
Notes
Further
reading
- Timothy Samuelson (2002). But
Wait! There's More!. Rizzoli. ISBN
0-8478-2431-4.
- Rob Popeil (1995). The Salesman
of the Century. Delacorte Press. ISBN
978-0385313780.
External
links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
