The Other Side of TV Infomercials

You can not only catch them late at night, but at any other time of the day as well; hawking everything from music CD’s, exercise videos and equipment, starting your own business, investing in real estate, cooking materials that’ll save you time in the kitchen, beauty products, and so forth.

First, let’s talk about Carleton Sheets. For the last twenty years, he has been hawking his No Down Payment system on how you can get rich by investing in real estate. He starts off by saying that he was fired from his corporate job back in 1970, and he thought it was the end of the world. He then starts investing in real estate, and then whoopy-do, all of a sudden, he’s making a ton of money right there and then, and he’s now teaching everybody else how to do the same thing.

The people who bought these courses tell how they made a fortune by buying real estate with no money down, and that your life will be better because you don’t have to worry answering to a boss; you can be your own boss. A lot of them have bought at least two or more houses; one couple even owns thirteen of them.

There is also Don Lapre, who tells you how you can make a fortune by placing tiny classified ads in newspapers from all across the country. How many people are even going to buy what you have to sell from these ads?

The SMC infomercial tells you how you can make a ton of money by selling these little trinkets that you can find in any gift shop. In one of them, this guy said that he got laid off because his company reorganized. His wife said that he was very depressed, but he always wanted to work for himself, and not for somebody else. He starts his own SMC franchise, both he and his family go out to flea markets and sell this stuff. He first made $400 in sales that first month, he joyfully shouts out “Yeah!”, and at Christmas, he made $7800 in sales.

Now let’s move on to kitchen utensils. Ten years ago, Chef Tony showed us how you can make food prep easy by purchasing these Brown and Crisp microwave bags. He demonstrated how you can cook raw salmon, lamb, chicken, and vegetables in these bags in less than five minutes; as well as make pastry by using dough that you cannot microwave, and they’ll come out perfect. He even took these bags to a high-class restaurant and cooked all of their customers’ orders in them. Although they loved the food, they were amazed when Chef Tony

told them that they were cooked in a microwave. I’m surprised that none of these people got salmonella poisoning, nor did the health department shut this place down. Now he does these infomercials for Smartware; which should really be called Dumbware, because it looks like it’s made of rubber; and rubber burns very easily.

The comedy duo of The Mommies, Caryl Kristensen and Marilyn Kentz, did an infomercial for Aircore cookware. They demonstrated how you can still cook your food take it off the stove, and still be piping hot; as well as cooking two different things at one time in one pot, even in the freezer. Cooking something in the freezer? Come on now; let’s get real? Your food will be as frozen as the Alaskan tundra if ever you put it in the freezer!

I also ordered the George Foreman Grill, and it took the excessive fats out of the hamburgers and sausages that I cooked, as well as extremely easy to clean. To play it safe, I cleaned it with water and a paper towel. If you’re watching your fat and cholesterol intake, this is the machine for you.

After seeing the Oxi-Clean and Quick N Brite infomercials more than a dozen times, I decided to try these products myself. For example, I once soaked some of my badly-stained clothes in the bathtub, using Oxi-Clean, and the stains didn’t come out as advertised. I also used them to clean my kitchen and bathroom, but they still leave the dirt behind. I’d rather buy cleaners that have harsh chemicals in them that really clean than something that doesn”t.

Now for exercise infomercials. In early 2003, just a few weeks after my mother had a stroke, I ordered a few of the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds videos, and it’s not only very easy to follow, but I lost 20 lbs. as well. It is the perfect video for the beginning exerciser. All you have to do is just march in place, do side steps and knee lifts. There’s no deep bending or squatting, as well as excessive jumping around.

Ten years ago, I ordered the Richard Simmons Dance Your Pants Off and the Tonin Uptown/Downtown videos. The Dance Your Pants Off video was too difficult to for me to follow and just way too jumpy. I couldn’t do the Townin Downtown video because it was too difficult for me to do some of the exercises. Some of the Tonin Uptown exercises were half easy and half difficult. It came with a set of two toning rings; both of which eventually broke.

And we have all heard of Kevin Trudeau. How can he and this blond, but very attractive English girl, get on TV and promote a product that claims to cure cancer, diabetes, heart disease, herpes, and so forth. Then he has the nerve to write and promote a book blasting the drug and health care industries and to tell people to take all-natural supplements to cure you’re their.

Now how about this for a kicker: Dual Action Cleanse/Multi-Cleanse. I first heard Klee Irwin promoting this product on the radio three years ago He not only uses graphic descriptions of people’s bowel movements, he found out on the Internet that when they did John Wayne’s autopsy, they found 44 lbs.of undigested fecal matter stuck in his colon and digestive system.

These infomercials need to tell the other side of what they promote. When you start your own business, you have no “financial freedom”. You have to have a product that’ll sell. You have to pay employees, rent, taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and repair costs, inventory, supplies, and so forth. You have to get financial backing, as well as find out what your local zoning ordinances are.

You don’t get paid a salary; just a percentage of the profits. You still have to answer to somebody; your creditors, your employees, your landlord, and even the government. Most small businesses fail within the first five years of operation, and if your business ever goes belly-up, you cannot get unemployment.

Real estate is an up-and-down market. Not everybody can afford to buy houses. Real estate agents work on commission, and if they don’t sell the house; they don’t get paid.

Being an ex-food service worker, you cannot cook raw meats, fish, and eggs in a small amount of time. You have to cook them very thoroughly at a certain temperature in order to prevent bacteria and other food-borne illnesses. If you leave cooking too long, your food will burn, and it’ll all go to waste.

You should also check with your doctor before taking any of these colon cleansers, natural herbs, as well as to even go on a diet and exercise. Herbal and dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA.

Also, check out these products and companies on the Internet before you decide to throw away your hard-earned money on them. See what other people have had to say about them; both positive and negative. Ditto if you want to start a home-based business as well. The only people really getting rich are the people who are promoting these products.

So Carleton Sheets and Don Lapre; go get a ordinary job and work for somebody else if you want true and real financial freedom. Kevin Trudeau, if you ever get sick and have to go to either the doctor or the hospital, they are not going to give you a natural remedy; they are going to give your over-the-counter or prescription medicine.

And Tom Bosley, please don’t tell people to invest their time and money into a business where all they do is sell nothing but useless trinkets.