Another one of the ‘jewish invention’ myths propounded by Marnie Winston-Macauley’s is the claim that jews invented the bane of married men with stay-at-home wives everywhere: the infomercial.
Now while some would prefer to leave this one to the jews: the truth is that her claim to the infomercial having a jewish origin simply isn’t true.
She writes at ‘Aish’ that:
‘Losing a little hair on your pate? No problem for Ron “Ronco” Popeil, who invented spray-on hair — GLH-9 Hair in a Can Spray. In the 1950s, before celebs were hawking on home shopping channels, Popeil, inventor, and TV marketer supreme, saw the potential of TV to sell, sell, sell, cheaply, and in quantity. He introduced viewers to the Ronco Spray Gun, Veg-O-Matic, and Pocket Fisherman with an unscripted presentation. His products, such as Mr. Microphone, a Solid Flavor Injector, and Electric Food Dehydrator, have made over $2 billion – and kicked off a new M.O. for media selling: The infomercial!’ (1)
The problem is that once again even a little bit of research shows this up as utter nonsense as while Ron Popeil was an early ‘frontman’ for Infomercials – he began his career in them in 1956 – (2) they substantially predate him. Since the first true infomercial – as in a dedicated filmed-for-television segment – was ‘Home Miracles for the 1950s’ that was produced and screened in 1949 by Ray Culley – who owned and operated ‘Cinecraft Productions’ – in order to promote a new Vitamix blender that featured the founder of Vitamix’s (William Barnard Jr.) father William Barnard Sr. as the frontman (William Barnard Sr. had been a salesman since he founded his own sales in company in 1921). (3)
Culley’s work – along with Barnard’s fronting – became the origin point and basis for all future infomercials and Popeil was simply copying this new trend started by Culley and Barnard Snr six to seven years later.
So, no; jews did not invent the infomercial!
References
(1) https://aish.com/91795029/
(2) https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-08-10/ron-popeil-ronco-infomercial-appreciation
(3) https://case.edu/ech/articles/v/vita-mix-corporation
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