Is the Shamwow guy the next Billy Mays?
When Billy Mays died, I pondered existence for awhile. Okay, I am just kidding but in all honesty I will truly miss seeing him in the comfort of my home. He had no artistic talent, yet was a huge part of the American culture. To the point where if I see a simple cleaning product in someone’s home, I crack up. Oxiclean is that product and it is magnificent. Billy was the frontiersmen of the informercial world. He alone paved the way for other informercial spokesmen. We have all heard of QVC. QVC is a channel devoted to selling products on the air. QVC initiated the idea of a timer that would pressure indecisive people to buy the product before it was too late. I myself never come along the QVC channel but I do watch television. Billy Mays along with his marketing company maybe responsible for the merger between the modern television and selling products to indecisive people. There will be many people in my life that do the exact same thing as Billy, maybe even do it better but they all need to give Billy thanks. He is the pioneer and the true explorer of the media frontier. The media frontier, which in the decade of the 2000′s is as untapped as the old west of early America. The media frontier is brutal and full of change. The old west was a mile stone in American culture and will be remembered as the exploratory mission of the new country.(turner, 1996) Railroad men, gold diggers, and oil men all made themselves pioneers of this land. In the world of technology Billy Mays made his mark as a trendsetter in this constantly evolving world.
Who is the Billy Mays of the nest generation? To be honest I have no idea. The only person that comes to mind is the “Shamwow” guy. I would be more than glad forfeiting him to the next generation. I will not judge because he is young, but i am going to anyway. He wears an unnecessary headset and starts talking about how Germans make the best stuff on the Earth. I would let those slide just because he is probably doing something much better than I. His spare time probably consists of adopting babies from Tibet. I was a little off with the adoption thing though. Instead he beats up prostitutes that he stiffed in the first place.(the smoking gun, 2009) Come to think of it the Shamwow commercials are getting more and more scarce. For his sake I hope he can get his act together because he has some big shoes to fill. Millions of kids out there need a salesmen icon to think back on someday. He might be the Billy Mays of the next generation. Just take the damn headset off.
As for Billy Mays… Rest in Peace. You were a heck of salesman and a true frontiersman
refrences
- Turner, F.J. (1996). The frontier in American history. New York: Dover Publications
- “Shamwow guy in slap, chop bust.” The Smoking Gun. Turner Sports & Emtertainment, 27 Mar. 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. <http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0327092sham1.html
