Vince Offer
| Vince Offer | |
|---|---|
 Offer in 2009 |
|
| Born | [1][2] April 25, 1964 Haifa, Israel |
| Citizenship | American, Israeli |
| Known for | Infomercial salesman |
Offer "Vince" Shlomi (born April 25, 1964), known as Vince Offer, the "ShamWow!" Guy, or Headset Vince, is an infomercial pitchman, writer, director, and comedian.[1][2] Offer's first major work was the 1999 comedy film The Underground Comedy Movie. In the late 2000s, Offer began appearing on television commercials for the products "ShamWow!", a super-absorbent towel, and the Slap Chop, a kitchen utensil. In 2012 Offer was featured in a television commercial for Schticky, a reusable lint roller.
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[edit] Career
[edit] The Underground Comedy Movie
In 1999, Vince Offer wrote, directed and appeared in The Underground Comedy Movie, which was met with less-than-favorable reviews. DVDs of the film were marketed via television infomercial. The film also led to several lawsuits.
[edit] Infomercial marketing
Offer, who funded The Underground Comedy Movie with his own money, had trouble selling it. Inspired by the success of Girls Gone Wild marketing, he decided to put the trailer on an infomercial, and sold 50,000 copies via direct order.[3]
[edit] ShamWow!
The success of The Underground Comedy Movie infomercial suggested to Offer that he should sell something more mainstream. Drawing upon his experience working in flea markets, he decided in 2006 to market a cleaning product that he saw there, an absorbent towel that he called the "ShamWow!".[3][4] The title of the product derives from the French pronunciation of the chamois.
The advertisement, filmed in the summer of 2007 with a budget of $20,000, became a popular hit.[3] Slate.com's Seth Stevenson praised Offer for his "impressive and subtle mastery of the pitchman's art" (with lines such as "you know the Germans always make good stuff"), and wondered if Offer's "abrasive manner might also mark a unique, new strategy in the annals of pitchdom." Stevenson compared Offer to earlier, "more upbeat" television pitchmen like the late Billy Mays and the Home Shopping Network hosts and concluded that Offer's "smooth-talking condescension" was more suited to the present "zeitgeist" than the "earnest fervor" of spokesmen like Mays and Ron Popeil.[4]
Consumer Reports reported that the infomercial for "ShamWow!" initially featured Offer claiming that the product held "20 times its weight in liquid". Later, the infomercial was changed to Offer claiming the "ShamWow!" held "12 times its weight in liquid", then again to "10 times". Consumer Reports did its own test on the product and found that it does indeed hold 10 times its weight in liquid but no more.[5]
Offer says that he has sold millions of the towels.[3] Notwithstanding his infomercial success, Offer says that "this is not my career" and that he considers himself to be in the film business.[3]
Pitchman Billy Mays had been promoting a similar product called Zorbeez two years prior to Vinces Offer's "ShamWow!" product. Mays noted that the "ShamWow!" commercials use many of the same product demonstrations as the earlier-produced Zorbeez commercial. In February 2009 while on the Adam Carolla radio show, Billy Mays publicly challenged Offer to a "pitch off" between their respective absorbent towel products.[6]
Popular Mechanics tested the absorbency of the two towel products and declared "ShamWow!" was the more effective of the two, but noted "If you have reusable cloth rags (and a roll of paper towels for backup), then neither product is necessary."[7]
This result had been hotly contested by Billy Mays before his death, and was a major part of the season finale of his Discovery Channel show PitchMen.
During the episode, it was suggested that the Popular Mechanics tester did not use the Zorbeez correctly.[8]
Fox's "Deal or Dud" segment tested the ShamWow and struggled to get the product working as advertised, calling it a "dud."
[edit] Slap Chop
In December 2008, Offer, who had previously sold kitchen utensils at swap meets,[4] appeared in another kitchen-gadget infomercial, advertising the Slap Chop and the Graty. The Slap Chop is a hand-held chopping device with internal blades; to operate it, the user places it over a food item and slaps down the button on the top. The Graty is a cheese grater operated by placing the cheese inside and then turning the outside housing of the utensil which causes the cheese to be grated.[9] Both of these devices are offered in several colors. Offer's aggressiveness and use of double entendres like "you're gonna love my nuts" and in the Spanish version "mira mi huevo" and "excitante" have earned him notoriety,[10] and, according to an Adweek blog, helped make Offer "the man who could beat Billy Mays at his own game."
Billy Mays had been promoting a similar product set which included the Quick Chop utensil and the Quick Grater utensil prior to Vince Offer's Slap Chop/Graty product set. Mays again noted that the Slap Chop commercials use many of the same demos as the earlier-produced Quick Chop commercial. Mays said in the same Adam Carolla radio show interview in February 2009 that Offer stole not only the Zorbeez product idea, but also the Quick Chop idea.[6]
[edit] Schticky
In 2012 Vince returned from his absence after his arrest with a new commercial, this time selling the Schticky. It is a reusable lint roller that comes in three sizes, little Schticky, Schticky, and big Schticky. The word schticky is used as innuendo throughout the commercial. The commercial has two versions, one uncut version which usually airs at night which uses the line pussy when referring to a cat, and another edited version that replaces the word pussy with cat. The commercial makes many references to his other two commercials "ShamWow!", and "SlapChop", with Vince saying many of his catchphrases. It also references his arrest while poking fun at him taking a mug shot.[11]
[edit] Other
In 2011, he appeared as himself in the Adam Sandler film Jack and Jill where the title character Jill referred to him as "the ShamWow guy".
[edit] Arrest
On February 7, 2009, Offer was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida on a charge of felony battery after an altercation with a 26-year-old prostitute. Offer contended that he struck the prostitute when she "bit his tongue and would not let go." Prosecutors later declined to file formal charges against either individual.[2][12]
[edit] References
- ^ a b First Interview with Vince from ShamWow!
- ^ a b c "ShamWow Guy In Slap, Chop Bust". The Smoking Gun. 2009-03-27. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0327092sham1.html.
- ^ a b c d e Rovell, Darren (2009-01-27). "First Interview with Vince from ShamWow!". CNBC.com. http://www.cnbc.com/id/28880253. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
- ^ a b c Stevenson, Seth (2008-05-13). "Salesjerk; Meet the next great TV pitchman.". Slate (The Slate Group). http://www.slate.com/id/2190658/pagenum/all/#page_start. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ^ Consumer Reports: ShamWow fails to wow in Consumer Reports tests
- ^ a b The Daily Tube: Billy Mays 'ShamPows' ShamWow Guy
- ^ Shamwow vs. Zorbeez: Which works Better? As Seen On TV Lab Test
- ^ Pitchmen, episode: "Revenge of the Pitchmen" (2009-07-01).
- ^ Hoffman, Ken (2009-01-16). "Hoffman: A vote for Jay, against Conan". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6215205.html. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
- ^ Griner, David (2009-01-19). "How Vince Became an Infomercial Superstar". adfreak.com, an online publication of Adweek. http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2009/01/how-vince-became-an-infomercial-superstar.html. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
- ^ Official Schticky website
- ^ "ShamWow Guy arrested after hotel fight with woman: Smoking Gun". Ottawa Citizen. 2009-03-27. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Technology/ShamWow+arrested+after+hotel+fight+with+woman+Smoking/1436935/story.html. Retrieved 2009-03-28.[dead link]
[edit] External links
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