Slap And Chop!

I've seen the funniest infomercial ever, and its for the Slap and Chop....




What I find funny about this infomercial and many others like this one is the way that they push these products. The fact is that usually the products that they are trying to sell are actually good ideas and are very useful products and the way that they market them makes them seem opposite. When I see informercials, I automatically think that the product is a piece of junk and the fact of the matter is that some of these products are not pieces of junk. I think that some of these products limit themselves by advertising in an infomercial format and I think that if some of these products marketed themselves in stores, they would make more profit. Do you think that the products you see on infomercials are better off advertising in infomercial form or in stores?

NBC's gratuitous use of the Luge Death

I'm sure we've all heard about the tragic death of the Georgian luge competitor during the olympic trails. Over past couple of days since the accident, I've spoken to a couple of people about the ethics of whether or not NBC should be showing the footage of the crash on national television. I thought that this was an interesting tie to marketing as well because we all know that as humans we have a sick tendency to desire to view these type of things, and I believe that NBC is using that to their advantage. I don't think it is necessary or ethical for NBC to be showing footage of the crash on national TV, there is a level of respect which I think is being dishonored by exploiting the video to increase ratings. Do you think it is ethically correct for NBC to be showing footage of the tragic accident on national television?