Infomercials are notorious for two things: (1) being completely unrealistic and (2) using the that’s-not-all technique. The that’s-not-all technique consists of two parts. The first part requires that a seller offers an inflated request. Then, he or she must reduce the appearance of the request’s size by presenting the potential buyer with an added bonus or discount (Burger, 1986). That is, people are more likely to make a deal or buy a product when it appears to have improved.
My favorite infomercial – after the rotisserie oven, which comes in at a close second – is the advertisement for Miracle Blade. Don’t you dare laugh; you know they’re SO COOL! I mean, who doesn’t want a set of knives that can cut through sheetrock, concrete, and the sole of work boots?!
I can just hear the infomercial now, “Order in the next 60 seconds and we’ll throw in a free Santoku knife at no extra charge!” Nevermind that I have no idea what a Santoku knife is, I should totally buy this set for $39.99 so that I can have one!
Or “For just 8 easy payments of $9.99 you’ll get one Miracle Blade Slicer, a Rock 'n Chop, a Filet and Boning knife, one Chop 'n Scoop, a Paring Knife, All-purpose Kitchen Shears, 4 Steak knives, a Tips & Guide booklet with Chef Tony’s secret recipes, AND as an added bonus you’ll also get 1 Additional Miracle Blade Slicer!!!!!!!!!”
Oh my gosh! How could ANYONE not want to buy a set when they throw in that extra slicer?! Really! Better yet, what about when they sell it to you as “a $460 value for only $39.95.”
If I had had a job and credit card when I first started watching infomercials there’s no telling how many of those Miracle Blades I would have called in for. Surely I’m not the only one who has felt this way either, because according to their website they have sold over 12 million Miracle Blade knives since 1989.
Miracle Blade – like so many other infomercials floating through the airwaves at 2 a.m. – always intends to sell its customers all of the pieces (including the extra Miracle Blade Slicer and the Santoku knife), but when they sweeten the pot before we’ve had a chance to consider the original deal it makes the deal seem improved, and therefore makes it more likely that people will call in and throw down the requested $39.95.
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Burgerm J. M. (1986). Increasing compliance by improving the deal: The that’s-not-all technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 277-283.
3 comments:
I totally know what you mean. There a commercial for "ShamWOW" which makes the product not only look amazing, but as you start to think if it's worth it, they give you two for the price of one! Seriously, how can anyone resist? As they give you a number to call, they also tell you to be aware of imposters. Let's think about things that have imposters. Prada, Coach, etc. purses, leather coats, really nice stuff. So obviously this is really product is really nice too.
Lauren it's so funny that you were mentioning "ShamWOW" because that is EXACTLY what I thought of when I was reading this. To add to her comment, when I was hope for Fall Break my mom and I went to the State Fair of Texas (yay for paying high prices for stomach aches and overpriced rides that then make you sick after eating so much food). There is a section of the state fair that is strictly for vendors to sell their products and this year, the ShamWOW crew was out in force. I must be honest here, I've seen the infomercial and I thought they were pretty cool and actually debated going online to get one. So OF COURSE when I saw the ShamWOW guy (who was not, incidentally, the same guy from the informerical, why was I surprised?)I stopped and listened to the ENTIRE sales pitch. I knew I wasn't going to buy one and yet those colorful bundles of oh so absorbent towel like products was really catching my eye. What I found to be most funny was that the salesman there was actually using the "That's not all technique" to one-up the infomercial! Needless to say I did not buy the alluringly colorful ShamWOW (mostly for lack of funding).
You can actually just buy the original item with the "and that’s-not-all item" for about half price from places like costco and amazon.
I think the Miracle Blade is actually pretty solid. Check this Miracle Blade video review - the miracle blade actually performs well.
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